Dare to Dream to the Extreme
by MissyKate21
Summary: Izzie Leyton has a dream and nothing and no one can or will get in her way…until she meets Jeff Hardy. JeffOC
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**: Izzie Leyton has a dream and nothing and no one can or will get in her way…until she meets Jeff Hardy. Jeff/OC

**Authors Note**: Ok, so I know that I should concentrate on _Coming Home_, but this has been swimming around in my mind for a few weeks now, so here you go! I promise a _Coming Home_ undate within the next week! And per the usual, I don't own anyone or anything except Izzie, Mia, and my other OC's. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays All!!!! )

**Dare to Dream to the Extreme**

Dream big. If you can dream it you can do it. Dreams do come true. Work hard and you can accomplish anything. We've all been told these little antidotes throughout life. Although now, looking back, I'm pretty sure that my parents told me these things to shut me up and send me off somewhere to work hard at something so they could have a moment's peace.

I mean, I get it, really I do. I totally understand why they wanted me out of their hair. I wasn't the average child who you could plop down in front of a Disney video and keep entertained for a few hours. I wasn't a bad kid either though; I just had a lot of energy and constantly wanted someone to play with. In other words, I was a hyper handful who sent my poor mother running in circles while at the same time trying to pay attention to my two brothers. I'm pretty sure the most commonly used phrase in my house always seemed to begin with "Isabelle Madison Leyton! Stop (insert my misbehavior of choice here).

I always loved sports, always knew I wanted to be an athlete. I never had the natural talent, I always had to work that much harder than the other girls who were blessed with those uber-genes and could run, kick, hit, whatever...just that much better than the rest of us. But I had the heart. I was the first one to arrive and the last to leave. I played sports during every season throughout my childhood and into high school. I didn't discriminate, I loved them all. That all came to an end during the last game of the regular season of my senior year lacrosse season. I had already accepted a full ride to Northeastern University, care of the Women's Soccer program. I was the captain of lacrosse team and we were one game away from making it to the playoffs, a feat never achieved by our school. I had already had one of the best games of my life. That's when it all came crashing down upon me. I went to steal the ball from my opponent, who really didn't take it all too well. That's when she decided to try and trip me up. Her trip attempt didn't make me fall; however, it did somehow manage to jam my cleat into the ground, while the rest of my body continued to stay mobile. I tore my ACL, MCL, and PCL all in one fell swoop. So it was bye bye scholarship, bye bye NEU. My parents couldn't afford it, and financial aid wasn't going to give me much help. I didn't have horrible grades, but they defiantly weren't enough to get me more money for school. So I got sent off to a state school where I spent my first three years pouting about the injustices of the world and how I was never going to play a sport ever again. The only activity I was able to do was dancing, which I did enjoy, but for me, nothing was like scoring the winning goal, hitting that last free throw, or checking the hell outta some bitch who tried to hit me in lacrosse.

In the middle of my senior year of college, I finally realized that although I couldn't play sports, nothing could stop me from writing about them. From then there on, I researched the hell out of every graduate journalism program within 150 miles of Boston. When I found the program at Boston University, I got my heart set on it. Too bad wishes and dreams can't pay a 50,000 tuition bill. Nothing seemed to fall into place for me. After graduation, I was going to have undergrad student loans, as well as other bills to pay, including rent, as I wanted to be independent and had impulsively signed a lease on an apartment right outside of Boston in the great city of Somerville (or Slummerville, as I've known it to be called.) with my friend Mia. I told myself that I would take a few years to save up some cash and then head back to school, on to my destiny to become the greatest sports writer ever. I was not giving up on my dream; I wouldn't allow another one to be stolen away from me for something as simple as money.

Fast forward three years and I'm embarrassed and sad to say that, if anything else, I've let my dream slip out of reach in favor of getting by. Which is how I've ended up at my current place of employment. After sticking it out at a horrible state job that didn't pay worth a damn (but looked good on a resume and where I hoped that I might make some connections to get back into school), and a somewhat terrifying 3 month stint of unemployment after my boss didn't get re-elected to his position, I was now working about 70 hours a week as the receptionist/office manager/administrative assistant/office bitch at an insurance agency, which is where I find myself today, a Saturday.

Per the usual, I'm the only one in, but I have so much work to get done for my bosses big presentation next week coming in Saturday was my only choice. At least I don't have to worry about ringing phones and people coming at me from every direction asking me to "please, just do this one thing for me!" I glance at the clock, and its 2:30. My stomach is damn pissed that the only substance it's been allowed today is coffee so sugar heavy that I'm shocked my teeth having disintegrated yet. I need the caffeine and sugar to keep me going through these crazy hours. I know it will pay off and my bosses will notice, I'll get that raise they've been hinting at, and I can get back on track to my dream of BU.

I hear a loud knock on the door and I'm a bit taken aback, no one is in on Saturdays, not even the cleaning people. Hesitantly, I tiptoe up to the door and peer out the small window pane. A smiling Mia is waiting on the other side. I unlock and open the door to let her in.

Mia Saldini is the epitome of everything that I am not. She's tall, a total knock out, what with her long dark brown hair, deep soulful brown eyes and she's got that perfect body that makes every guy want her and every girl hate her. We met at orientation at college and have been inseparable ever since. She's just starting up her 2nd year of grad school, fully financed by her uber-rich father, who also pays her rent, bills, and pretty much everything else she wants. It's not that I'm jealous of her, it's just that...ok, yeah, I am...you got me. I am jealous of her.

Mia's come with her two step sisters, six year old Savannah and three year old Carley, in tow. That's her trade off with her father; he pays for everything and she watches the girls whenever her step mother, Julie, asks her too. Mia and the girls have hardly walked though the door before little Carley runs over to jump into my lap.

"Izzieeeeeeeeeeeee!" she shrieks excitedly. "Izzie it's snowing out!!!!" Her blonde curly pigtails are bouncing up and down and she's got a huge smile on her face.

"Hi Carley, Hi Savannah." I smile at the girls. Mia is holding out a large brown paper bag.

"I come bearing gifts" she says with a smile. My eyes widen and I grab the bag from her. I open to check out the contents. An Italian sub with everything (extra hots!) from my favorite deli around the corner from our apartment and a nice big bag of plain potato chips. SCORE!

"Oh you SO rock my world right now! How did you know that I was starving?" I say excitedly, shaking the bottle of ice tea that I had bought earlier in the morning.

"Please Izz - every night when you get home, all I hear about is the bag of Doritos and handful of M&M's that you managed to eat in between running around like a maniac." scoffed Mia.

I pick up my sandwich to take the first fabulous bite, pickles, hots, onions, and all sorts of fabulous-ness in store for me. Then I put the sandwich down and give Mia a look.

"What do you want?" I ask skeptically.

Mia feigns her innocence "Why Isabelle, I am shocked and saddened that just you think I would want something in return! Here I am trying to be a nice person, bringing my most favorite room mate in the world something for lunch and you..."

"Save it Saldini. What do you want?" I ask, trying to hide the smirk that's threatening to break out.

"Come out to Estate with me tonight, I need a girls night out!" she says, smiling brightly.

"Girls night huh?" I ask, raising my eyebrows "You and Jason got into another fight didn't you?"

Mia and her boyfriend Jason are either constantly fighting or having extremely loud makeup sex. Thank god I've learned to sleep with headphones on.

"Come ON Izzie, we'll have such a good time! Have some drinks, do a little dancing, meet some guys... You need to blow off some steam Izz, all you do is work anymore. I never see you!" Mia is starting to pout worse than little Carley when she doesn't get her way.

"Mia," I halfheartedly protest "I don't have the kind of money to go to Estate, that place is one of the most expensive bars in Boston!"

"Ahhh yes," she says, her bright smile returning "Tonight is on Daddy!" she holds up a platinum AmEx and waives it around.

"Mia..." I begin, but she cuts me off

"Come on Izzie, I won't take no as an answer, we need to go out and have some fun!" says Mia with extra enthusiasm that I know she's thrown in there just for me.

I let out a deep sigh and she knows she's won. "Great!" she says excitedly "I got us on some list, not VIP, but hey, at least we don't have to pay a cover to get in!"

"Ok, Ok, fine," I relent "But for now you have to leave, if I'm going out tonight, I have to get this all done by 6."

"See you at homeeeee" she says in a sing-song voice, snatching a pickle from my sandwich and walking to the door as the girls blow goodbye kisses at me.

Eight hours later I find myself inside Estate, next to an extremely excited Mia. She's just bought us each a Redbull and Grey Goose and she's grooving to an old Dr. Dre tune that's playing over the sound system. She's gorgeous as usual, sporting a silver halter top and black miniskirt with a pair of black knee high stiletto boots. I'm constantly comparing myself to her. I guess my best asset is my pale green eyes, or at least that's what my former boyfriend told me was what "salvaged me" I'm five foot five with an athletic build that was starting to boarder on somewhat chubby until I took up dance two nights a week eight months ago. My hair is highlighted to a pretty shade of caramel and honey blonde and tonight, against my wishes, Mia has dressed me in her super tight emerald green tube top and my only pair of "going out" jeans (far too skintight and constricting if you ask me) with a pair of black pumps. Since my usual attire is business casual, it's pretty damn safe to say that I feel like a fool right about now and am defiantly going to need another one of these drinks before I feel comfortable.

Mia's reading my mind because before I notice she's gone, she back beside me with a refill. It's moments like this that I know Mia is probably one of the greatest things to ever happen to me. She grabs my hand and pulls me onto the packed dance floor as a Rhianna song starts up. "C'mon Izz! Let's dance!" she says with a smile. I oblige and we push our way though a group of people and get into our own little groove. I love to dance. It's pretty much been my only outlet for the past 7 years since I couldn't play any contact sports. Five songs and one Kamikaze shot later, I'm starting loosen up and am actually happy that Mia dragged me out tonight.

As I'm about to wipe the beads of sweat that have collected on my forehead and suggest a trip to the ladies room and then over to the bar, Mia is walking away. Who the fuck is she talking to? Oh you've GOT to be kidding me. My eyes narrow and I walk up to where Mia is standing on the outskirts of the dance floor, standing next to Jason.

"Mia?" I'm looking at her, but her eyes are locked onto Jason, a flirty smile on her face.

"Oh hey Izzie," Jason finally acknowledges me. Mia is finally out of her Jason trance and realizes that she just walked away without saying a word. She knows I hate that.

"Izz," she begins, her face quickly switching to an apologetic look. She grabs my arm and pulls me a few feet away. "Izzie, we just need to talk for a few minutes. Ya know, smooth over everything that happened last night? Give me 20 minutes and we can return to girls night, we'll even hit up some Chinese after, like we used to! On me! I swearrrrrr! Just give me 20 minutes!" She's pretty much begging now. She hands me a twenty and pushes me towards the bar. "Go grab a drink and I'll be back in no time at all! Promise." she gives me a huge smile.

She knows I can't say no to her, I've never been able to. "Ok Mia, but just 20 minutes!" I say sternly. I point to a cluster of couches and chairs. "Meet me there in 20 minutes!"

She gives me a Cheshire cat grin, nods her head and scampers off to meet Jason and I make my way to the bar.

Fifty seven minutes later I'm nursing the vodka tonic I bought with Mia's twenty and I'm so pissed I'm pretty sure my eyes are shooting flames at this point. I finish it off and angrily slam the glass down on the bar. Four calls to Mia's cell have gone unanswered. Normal rational people would have done one of two things by now. Get the hell out and take a cab home or start talking up someone at the bar to find someone else to hang out with. Of course, I have done neither. I'm still in the same spot she left me in almost an hour ago and she's nowhere in sight.

With a sigh, I pull on my black cardigan, walk downstairs and out the door, hoping that some fresh air will clear my head and I can figure out what exactly I'm going to do.

The Boston air is crisp and cold and there's big fat snowflakes falling from the milky dark night sky. It's only the first weekend in November, but we've already got four inches of snow on the ground and it's been freezing cold since after Columbus Day. I can't complain, since I've been a Boston girl all my life, I'm used to this, but I can't help but shiver a bit in the cold and pull my cardigan closer around me. I take in a deep breath in, letting the icy air fill my lungs until they start to sting a bit.

Me being me, I know that as much as I want to leave Mia here, I won't. I know I know, I'm too nice, but the different scenarios of everything that could go wrong if I did leave her here swim around in my brain, and I figure I'll get myself another drink to nurse, stay in one spot for the rest of the night and hope to god that she walks past. I mean, she wouldn't have left already, right?

I push a stray strand of blonde hair behind my ear and turn to walk back into the pulsing club. I turn and walk smack into a something. I teeter off balance in the three inch black heels that Mia was insistent that I wear and fall smack into the middle of a pile of snow to my left. Wicked fucking awesome. (Please read my glowing sarcasm here honestly, short of my ex-boyfriend Mike making a cameo appearance tonight to berate me for one thing or another, this night couldn't get any worse.

I take in a deep breath and am about to get up when a pair of arms grabs me around the waist and pulls me up. What the fuck?!?

"Oh wow, I'm so sorry darlin'!" a slight Southern drawl fills my ears and I look up to see the someone that I crashed into. The first thing that catches my eye is longish brightly multi-colored hair. My eyes connect with the owner of the hair and he gives me a crooked smile and brushes the hair out of his face.

I want to be pissed that my ass is soaked and I'm totally freezing right now, but his eyes are making that real hard. Dammit.

Mystery man starts the brush the remaining snow off my sweater and gives me another apologetic look.

"I really am sorry, I need to start looking where I'm going from now on." he drawls again. I can only stare. He looks kind of familiar, but I can't quite place him. Ok Izz, now you're starting to look like a freak. Say something you idiot!

"Oh hey, no harm no foul, right?" I give him a brief smile and am about to walk past him since I'm pretty sure he thinks that I'm a total freak of nature right about now.

"I'm Jeff" he offers up as I'm walking back towards the entrance.

I look back and give him another smile. "Izzie," I say extending my hand to shake his. 

"So Izzie, what may I ask are you doing outside on a night like tonight? It's freezing out and I still can't believe that it's snowing! It's only November! Not even winter yet!!" he says with a laugh.

"Ahhh, you're defiantly not from around here are you?" I say, giggling a little.

He gives me a sheepish look. "What gave me away?" he asks.

"Well, your total shock that the weather could be like this before winter 'officially' starts." I respond, still not able to take my eyes off him. Ok Izzie, you were doing good for a second, now you're starting to go in freak girl mode again. Let's settle it down now.

He gives me another crooked smile. "Boston girl?" he questions.

"Born and raised!" I say proudly.

"Cameron, North Carolina." he states. Ahhhh, that explains the accent.

"So Izzie, Estate not really your scene?" he asks "That why your outside hangin' with the snowflakes?"

"Ehhh, no, I mean, yes, I mean...I guess it used to be, but now I'm not so sure anymore. I'm here with my roommate Mia, well I came with her, but she met up with her boyfriend, she was supposed to talk to him for just a few minutes and now it's been an hour and I can't really find her. I don't want to leave her here and she's not picking up her phone..." I ramble on. Ok Izzie, just stoppppp talking. I'm sure this guy is just trying to be nice and have a little friendly conversation with you, and here you go spilling your guts to him. Pretty sure he doesn't care.

He gives me a sympathetic look. "That sucks, I'm real sorry. Look, I'd really like to make up for the fact that you just took a swan dive into some snow care of me. Why don't go back inside so you can warm up and you can let me get you a drink?"

Ok, I am SO not in the habit of going off with random guys and letting them buy me drinks. I mean, I've seen enough Lifetime movies about roofies and crap to last me a lifetime. But I can't seem to shake the feeling that I know him from somewhere and his eyes are so damn inviting that before I realize it, I can hear the sound of my own voice telling him yes, that would be real sweet of him.

Nice going Izz, hopefully the reason he looks so damn familiar isn't because you saw him on America's Most Wanted or COPS. Ughhhh...you dumbass.

**Read and review!!!! MissyKate **


	2. Chapter 2

Dare to Dream to the Extreme – Chapter Two

**Authors Note: ** I'm loving writing this one! Thanks to ginny-potter-07, Fozzy-Floozy, and nikki for reviewing. You guys rock! And check out my other story, _Coming Home_. Keep Reading and Reviewing!!!! 0)

Ok, so I'm following Jeff back into Estate and of course, still wondering how I feel like I've seen him somewhere before. There's not a chance in hell that I'm asking him about that though. I already pulled my freak girl routine once tonight, defiantly no need for an encore. He leads me through the club and up a set of stairs. It's pretty dark up here and I'm not really seeing a lot of people. Where the hell are we??? As he leads me towards a dark corner, I'm seriously thinking about either running away so damn fast that the stupid three inch heels fall off these shoes, or decking him and letting him know, without a doubt, that I am NOT the kind of girl who is going to give it up in the dark corner of some bar because some guy offered to by me a drink.

Before I get a chance to open my mouth, I see him talking to some guy who opens a black door. He turns and gives me that crooked smile again. No Izzie, don't do it, don't...Damn...there's those eyes again. 

"After you!" he says, making a grand sweeping motion with his left arm. I smile and walk in. Whoa. I never knew this was here before.

As I enter what I can only assume to be the VIP of all VIP rooms (at least as far as Boston is concerned), we're lead to a back corner with one of those huge semi circle couches. As we're walking over, I can see a table in front of it that's full of beer bottles, bottles of top shelf rum, vodka, and gin. Carafes of different juices are next too large glass pitchers of soda. Holy crap, this is the kind of stuff that you see on The Hills or something!  
Then my eyes gaze onto the six men seated on the couch. Ok, why are they all looking at me? Ooooookayyyy...this sucks. I fasten the first few top buttons on my cartigin, even though it's about 8 million degrees in here right now. As I'm intently focused on straightening my tube top, we stop in front of the table. 

"What's your poison?" Jeff drawls. Fucking accents, it's like kryptonite or something; almost as bad as those eyes of his...mmmmm...our children would have great eyes. Ok, give it a rest Izz. You've known this guy all of twelve minutes and you're thinking about children? I thought freak girl had finished her performance tonight.

"Ummm, vodka soda?" I say, not allowing my eyes to look up at the six guys who are intently staring me down right now.

As Jeff is expertly mixing me a drink, one of the guys slides out of the couch and walks over to me. He's tall with LOTS of muscles, tattoos, and short brown hair.

"Hi," he says smoothly "Apparently Jeffro must have forgotten his manners tonight, or else he'd have introduced such a pretty lady to us already. I'm Randy." he says, eyeing me up and down.

Before I have a chance to say a word, Jeff laughs and hands me my drink.

"Keep it in your pants Orton, I'm pretty sure Sam wouldn't approve of you hitting on some girl you don't even know. " he says. Randy gives him a glare and sits back down.

"Guys this is Izzie. Izzie, these are the guys. That's Sean, Steve, Dan, Matt, John, and of course you know Randy now." says Jeff.

One of them, John maybe? (I'm not sure, he's got his arm in a sling, I wonder what happened to him?) smiles at me and invites me to sit down.

"Yo, shitbags! Move your dumb asses down so this lovely lady can take a seat!" he yells.Blushing, I slide in and take a seat and Jeff sits next to me. This is somewhat awkward for me, considering that I hardly know this guy and we're hanging out with his friends. Right about now I'm staring into my drink and praying that I can finish it and get out of here real quick before I say or do anything that's going to make me look even dumber than I already do. I'm pretty sure that these pretty boys want nothing to do with me anyway. I mean, I don't exactly seem like their type (which I'm guessing is a big chested blonde with minimum clothing and maximum stupidity)

But then Jeff totally shocks me, first asking me about myself, then intently listening when I proceed to tell him. And the rest of the guys don't make any rude comments or do anything obnoxious when I'm talking to him, save for Randy who sometimes gives me a glance, looking at me like I'm a particularly appetizing dessert or something. The last time that I caught him I flipped him off with a smile. He looked so shocked that I did that, he bursts out laughing.

The time flies by and we're talking about everything...well actually, I'm doing most of the talking, Jeff seems so content to sit back and listen to me ramble on about work and my goal of BU and writing. As he's mixing me a second vodka soda, he mentions that he and and Randy are staying at the Park Plaza Hotel in downtown Boston. They're here to visit John, and his four brothers had come out with them that night. (I knew they all looked alike!).

We keep talking, laughing, and going about as if we're old friends. I'm shocked when the lights flicker on and off signaling last call. Those two hours passed damn fast! Jeff smiles at me and offers to walk me downstairs. He tells Randy, John and the others that he'll meet them in a few minutes. I smile and say goodnight to everyone.

"Nice to meet you Izzie, hope we get to see you again sometime." says John with a smile. Randy flips me off and grins; I do the same back to him.

Jeff and I have just made it outside. He's giving me that crooked smile again. Ohhh wow, he's eyes look even better under the moon.

"I'm not sure what your plan is now, but I'd love for you to come back to the room with me and Randy. I mean, not in that way, but maybe for another drink, or we could get a cup of coffee or something or..." he trails off and I can just make out a slight blush that's starting to redden his checks. Before I have a chance to open my mouth, Taylor Swift's "Our Song" begins to play...it's coming from my purse. Of course, my phone would have to ring now, since it hasn't rung all damn night!

Begrudgingly, I route though slips of paper, bills, my wallet and god knows what else, eventually finding my phone on the bottom of my purse, dropping god knows what on the ground as I pull it out. It's Mia; God only knows where she is right now.

"Izz!!!!" she slurs slowly into the phone. "Where are youuuuu?"

I fucking knew it. Jason got her smashed. Well, at least if they're still here, maybe I can drag her home with me.

"Mia, are you downstairs? I'm outside, but come out and meet me here, I met this guy an..." I'm cut off by the distinct sounds of vomiting. Effing gross.

"Izzieeee! Jason just threw up on my new shoessss!" she squeals angrily.

"Mia, where are you?" I say, a little more anxiously this time.

"Leaving Tequila Rain, we're headed to Newton for a party at Jason's friends house! I'll see you at home tomorrow!" she continues to slur.

"Are you serious right now? Tequila Rain is halfway across the city on freakin' Lansdowne Street! How the hell did you end up there? How are you getting to Newton? Mia, come home! You're drunk..." I all but shout into my phone. But it's no use, she's already hung up.

I'm so damn pissed off right now and I could do one of two things. (I'm really starting to notice that I'm in constant battle with myself) Angry Izzie is thinking that going back to the Park Plaza with Jeff sounds like a damn good idea right now. Common Sence Izzie reminds Angry Izzie that you have only known this guy for less than three hours and as nice and sweet as he is, that probably isn't the best idea. As usual, Common Sence Izzie wins out. God, I really hate that bitch.

"Jeff, that's really nice of you, but I really should be getting home." I say, trying to hide the sad tone of my voice. I slowly make my way a little farther into the street, searching the streets for an empty cab.

His face falls and gives off a somewhat defeated look. "Well at least let us give you a ride home? Something?" he asks. I shake my head

"I'm just going to grab a cab," Out of sheer luck, one pulls up in front of me. This almost never happens, so I'm taking it as a sign that I'm supposed to head home. I open up the door and slide in, putting my window down in the process.

"Thanks so much Jeff, I really did have a great night." I give him a smile and he waves as the cab pulls away from the curb. I know I did the right thing by leaving, I mean, what would he want with someone like me anyways. I slump down in the backseat and recite my address to the driver. But I can't help but feel a pang in my stomach...

The next night, I'm settling down in my favorite sweats with a big bowl of popcorn, getting ready to watch some Law and Order SVU reruns on USA. When Mia finally managed to stagger in around 11 this morning, she apologized profusely, telling me how much she owed me and how sorry she was. That was quickly followed by her profusely throwing up and passing out on her bed. It's now just about 8pm and she's just dragged her sorry ass out of bed and into the shower. I know she's got a 40 page thesis that's due on Wednesday and I also know she hasn't even begun to think about it yet, let alone start it.

I'm leafing through my well worn copy of the BU Graduate School course offerings, paging though the School of Communication, Journalism studies program. I know every word of every course offering. Yeah it's sad, I'm well aware. I turn up the volume on my TV and prepare myself for a fabulous evening of Stabler and Benson, just as soon as these damn commercials are over.

As I'm about to run to the kitchen to grab myself a bottle of water, a flash of rainbow colored hair catches my eye. Dumbstruck, I continue to stare at the TV as large men are flying across my screen and beating the crap out of each other, not able to tear my eyes away. Somehow, I'm able to scream Mia's name and within seconds, she's running to the living room, sopping wet and clad only in a towel.

"What the heck Izz? Are you o..." I don't even allow her to finish, just clamp my hand over her mouth and point at the TV.

"That's him" I hoarsely whisper, pointing at the rainbow haired man on the television who was doing some type of a backflip off a tight rope looking structure.

"That's who??" Mia manages to mumble out, even with my hand covering her mouth.

Then after the television tells me to watch something called Raw tomorrow night, it's over and he's gone from the screen. I snap out of my trance and pull my hand off Mia's mouth.

"That's him Mia! The guy from the bar last night! That's why he looked so damn familiar; I've probably seen this commercial eight hundred times!" I say, exasperated.

"Whoa, so you said no to THAT?" she asks, incredulously. "Seriously girlie, what were you on, cause you were not thinking straight if you said no to that guy!"

I stare somewhat longingly at the opening scene of SVU that's now started then look at Mia.

"C'mon Mia, what the hell would a guy like that want with a girl like me anyways?" I ask her.

Mia shakes her head. "Someday Izz...someday you are going to remove your head from your ass and realize what a great catch you really are, no matter what that douchebag Mike said to you...and from then there forward, I will use all my energy trying to hide you from Jason!" she says, laughing as she walks back to the bathroom to finish drying off. I snuggle back down onto the couch to watch my show.

Monday morning, I'm into work nice and early so I can have some coffee and something to eat and check my e-mail before my day gets to crazy. As I'm pouring some granola into my yogurt (not exactly my favorite, but I made a pledge to myself when I started dancing again that I was going to start eating better too) Sophie and Jenna, the two account administrators in my office, walk in. Monday's are great because we usually have a few minutes to catch up while our four bosses have their Monday Morning conference call with our San Diego and Tampa Offices.

The two women chatter away about their weekends with their respective fiancé and husband and daughter. After Jenna is done telling stories of all the mischief her three year old daughter Bailey has gotten into this weekend, they ask me about my weekend. Blushing slightly, I tell them the edited version of meeting Jeff at Estate (taking out the sections with super drunk Mia in them) and then seeing him on TV Sunday night.

"Izzie I can't believe you didn't go with him!" Sophie chastises me. "I mean, it sounds like he was totally in to you!"

"I don't think so Sophie, I mean, a guy like that? He's practically famous! And a guy doesn't really fit into the plan I have for myself. I'm finishing the Kaplan course in December, I'm going to take the GRE's next spring, and hopefully be at BU in a little under two years." I protested.

"You and your life plan Izzie. You're only twenty five! You need to relax on the life plan a bit and have some fun with your life." says Jenna.

Before I have a chance to give my rebuttal, the front door opens and Adam, the delivery man for the florist from down the street, walks in. Jenna and I exchange smiles, knowing full well that these flowers are most likely from Sophie's fiancé Scott. Every other week or so, give or take, for the night they got engaged five months ago, Scott has been sending Sophie flowers to the office.

This weeks arrangement is particularly beautiful, with bright, vibrant flowers of orange, blue, pink, and purple.

"Hey Adam" we chorus as he sets the flowers down on top of the front desk. "Another Sophie special?" I ask.

"Actually, no Izzie, these are for you." He says, handing me a white envelope.

"Me?" I say, confused "Are you sure you didn't mix this up with someone else?"

"Nope, in fact, the sender picked out the exact flowers and wrote the card himself, came into the shop yesterday. He wanted to make sure you got them first thing in the morning." Said Adam "Have a great day ladies!"

"Well?" demanded Jenna.

"Well what?" I ask

"Aren't you going to open it?!?!" they demanded.

Hesitantly, I tear open the top of then envelope.

_Izzie,_

_Just wanted to brighten up your Monday morning! _

_I had a great time Saturday night and again,_

_it was really great to meet you. Check your e-mail _

_and you'll get your explanation on how I found you._

_Hope to hear from you soon._

_-Jeff_

My face turns bright red and I can't stop staring at the heavy white cardstock that I'm holding in my hand.

"They're from that wrestler guy aren't they?" Jenna practically shrieks. Sophie grabs the card from my hand and I turn to my computer and log in to my e-mail. 7 new messages…..I scroll down to one that was sent late last night.

To:ILeyton

FromXtremeJHardy

Subject:Found You!

Izzie,

I hope you don't think I'm a stalker or anything – I'm really not, I swear! I found your business card on the ground on Saturday night after you left. I figured it might not be good if it got into the wrong hands, so I took it with me for safe keeping. I hope by now you've gotten the flowers that I sent, I figured it would be a nice way to start off your week.

I really hope that we can be friends, because you seem like a real nice, down to earth, sweet person; something that's real hard to find these days. I travel a lot with my job, so e-mail is probably the best way to get in touch with me, but I left my phone number on the back of the card that came with the flowers just in case you ever wanted to give me a call.

Have a great day Izzie and I hope to hear from you soon.

-Jeff

I must have read and re-read the e-mail about twelve times, because all of a sudden, the phones started to ring and my bosses left the conference room to head to their respective offices.

"Write him back!" hissed Jenna as she and Sophie scurried back to their cubicles in the back of the office.

As I answered the phone, I stare at the message. Should I? I mean, maybe he's just being nice, but on the other hand, he said he wanted to be friends. It can't hurt to have more friends, right?

To:XtremeJHardy

From:ILeyton

Subject:RE: Found You!

Hi Jeff,

Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers! The colors are gorgeous and they defiantly brighten up my desk. It was a great way to start my Monday! I got the card with the flowers and did see your number on the back. I guess it could find its way to my phonebook, just as long as you don't share it with your friend Randy! (haha – just kidding!)

I'd love to consider you one of my friends, it's not often you meet a nice guy who will buy you a drink with no malicious intentions!

Oh and I saw you on TV last night – I knew you looked familiar, but couldn't place you. Now I know I've probably seen you every time I sit down to watch SVU marathons on USA!

Ok, time to start the work day! You have a great day too!

Izzie

My mouse hovers over the "send button" and I've got a nervous jumpy pit in my stomach. I read my reply to him about six times, my eyes scanning the words for any evidence of Izzie the freak girl coming to life on the screen. Ok, c'mon Izz, stop being such a wimp and do it! I take a deep breath and close my eyes, clicking the mouse. I open them and see that they message has gone into my sent mail box. Here goes nothing……

**Read and Review!!!!! MissyKate**


	3. Chapter 3

Dare to Dream to the Extreme – Chapter 3

**Authors Note**: Ok, so I know this one is a little shorter than my usual, but I wanted to give you all something before I went away for New Years. Much love to Fozzy-Floozy, nikki, jennaalissa, I'm.Totally.Fxcking.Awesome, and Cara Mascara for your reviews – they make my day!!! ) Next week will see updates to this story and Coming Home, I swear! )

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It's 4:25 on Monday afternoon and my day shows no signs of stopping. I'm on my 6th, no wait, 7th cup of coffee? No wait...well, anyways...It seems like I've drank enough coffee today to enable the good folks at Dunkin Donuts to send all of their children to Ivy League Schools...hah.

Today has just been one gigantic clusterfuck. (Yeah, you like that one? That's pretty much the word here at Grate and Hart.) I haven't stopped running around like a maniac since I sent that e-mail to Jeff and to tell you the truth, I'm more than a bit disappointed that he didn't write back. That's what I get for getting my hopes up like that. I mean, he travels all around the world; he's probably got a "friend" in every city he goes to!

One of my four bosses, Polly, just walked by to drop a stack of certificates that need to be processed and sent out by the end of the day. Most people would freak because the end of most normal peoples day is 5pm. I however, have proved without a doubt, that I am most certainly not normal. I know fully well that I will be here until around 8 tonight. How do I know that? Well, barring a major national disaster, weather phenomenon, or some other act of God, I am always here on Monday night until around 8'ish. My time is very regimented, and I pretty much follow the same schedule ever week (my God, I just realized how totally lame I sound...seriously, it's a total shock to me how people don't die of boredom when they talk to me)

Well anyways, Mondays and Fridays I'm here til about 8 (sometimes later), Tuesdays and Thursdays I dance from 7:30 til 9, and Wednesdays I have my GRE prep course from 7-10. Saturdays I work for the better part of the day, and Sundays I like to read the newspaper and watch ESPN to catch all the sports stories and highlights that I've missed throughout the week. It's not that I need to do things like that; I just don't like to deviate from my normal routine. I have a schedule and I stick to it, that's the only way I'm going to find my way to BU. I've seen what can happen when I deviate and I didn't like those results. Wow...no wonder my boyfriend dumped me.

I'm plowing through the stack of "to be done" requests that sit next to me and before I know it, it's 5 and everyone is walking out the door. I don't know whether to be happy that they're leaving so I can really get some work done, or to be upset that everyone in this office has a life except for me. Sophie and Jenna lean over my desk before they head out for the night.

"Did he write back yet?" Sophie asks me, straining to look over the desk and at my computer screen.

"Sophie, I'm sure he's really busy and has other things to do rather than write an email to some girl he met in a bar." I tell her, shaking my head.

"You should leave here when everyone else does for once, go home and watch that show that he's on!" pipes up Jenna, as she and Sophie are getting ready to walk out the door.

"Good night Ladies!" I say, laughing while giving them both looks. With a wave, they're gone, and I'm back to work, but not without another sidelong gaze at the beautiful flowers that Jeff sent me this morning.

Around an hour and a half later, I've just refreshed my cup of coffee and I'm staring at the next stack of work; there's just no way I can get everything done in a day. I wonder if I could petition someone to add a few more hours to each day.

Before I can start, a "new message" alert pops up on my screen. Curious, I open up my Outlook and I can't help but break into a huge smile as I see that my new e-mail is from Jeff. My heart does a happy little dance as I click on it. Calm down Izzie! 

To: ILeyton  
From: XtremeJHardy

Subject: Long Day!

Hey Izzie!

Sorry I didn't write back quicker, I was traveling all day to get to where we're taping our show tonight. I checked my laptop by mistake, so right now is the first chance I've gotten to use it since last night! I hope you had a great day at work, I'm guessing you're probably at home by now on your couch watching Law and Order or something! But if you get this tonight I should be on my laptop for most of the night, so maybe you could write me back and keep me entertained so that I don't have to hang out with Randy instead! He says hello by the way, the asshole is reading over my shoulder right now...he's mad that I don't want to hang out with him!  
Well anyways, I hope I talk to you soon!

-Jeff

Ok, my heart is going about a million miles an hour and I can seem to wipe the shit eating grin off my face right now. All of a sudden, everything that is piled up next to me can wait. I put my phone on night, gather up my things, and get myself ready to leave, just as soon as I do one thing...

Hi Jeff!

Work was really busy today, but it's great to hear from you! I was just about to leave...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK, so let's fast forward about 7 weeks. It's Christmas Night, and I am oh joy at my parents house to spend the holiday with them, my older brother, his wife, their two kids, and my younger brother and his girlfriend, and the whole rest of the Leyton clan...all twenty two of us to be exact. Normally this consists of my mother making comments to the rest of my family about why I couldn't be more like my brothers and my dad drinking whiskey in front of the TV. Fa la la la la, right? Ahhh yes, holiday time at the Leyton house.

Jeff and I have been e-mailing on average about 12-15 times a day for the past 7 weeks and I couldn't be happier. When we're not e-mailing, we're texting or sometimes calling. I haven't seen or talked to him, save for the few times that we've managed to fit in a phone call (they're generally marathon sessions that see my using up most of my monthly minutes) or when Randy has gotten a hold of his phone and gives me 3am drunk dial wake up calls.

Beeeeeeeeeep! Beeeeeeeeeep!

My phone is shrilly letting me know that I have a new text message in my box. My mother gives me her perfected "disapproving look" as I get up from the couch to grab my phone from my bag.

**New Text Message from Jeff Hardy**

_How goes the Spanish Inquisition?_

_You kill anyone yet? Need bail $$$?_

I try unsuccessfully to stifle my laughter. In the past few days, I've complained to Jeff non-stop about having to come home and deal with my mother, Corinne, who is constantly grilling me on every aspect of my life, most of all why I can't find a boyfriend. She never really did approve of me and my sports mania growing up. If you ask Corinne Leyton, a college education is good for one thing and one thing only when you're a girl and that's finding your future husband. She wished I could have been more like my brothers, both of whom got straight A's throughout high school and college, attended MIT on full academic scholarships, have great jobs with the same science lab in town, and both of whom have either a steady long-term girlfriend or wife. My brother Alex is 30, married to my sister in law Margot, and they have a 6 year old son named Trevor. My brother Stephen is 21 and has been with his girlfriend Lisa since freshman year of high school. I have no desire to be like either of them...blech. All set, thanks

I turn off the ringer on my phone and try to inconspicuously type back to Jeff.

**Send to: Jeff Hardy**

_Nahhh, no throwdowns so far, but I_

_might take you up on that_

_later! Hows your night?_

**New Text Message from Jeff Hardy**

_My nite is good, having some_

_drinks - u should 2!_

_Might make it suck less!_

_Hahaha )_

I laugh at Jeff's message and glance over to my full glass of red wine sitting next to me. I'm not a big drinker or anything, but I always need at least one glass of wine to deal with my family telling me that my dream is bullshit and that I should concentrate on finding myself a husband instead. Ahhh good times.

Three hours later, after a particularly memorable screaming match between me and my mother, I am getting off the T, headed back to my apartment. Mia is gone for the week, skiing with her Dad, Julie, and the girls in Aspen, so I have a Jason-free apartment until after New Years. Not that I'm not thrilled at that, but the prospect of spending New Years Eve by myself is more than a little depressing. Ahhh, well, at least I'll have Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark.

I open the door to my building and immediately stumble over a Fed-Ex envelope that's sitting on the steps up to our apartment. Must be Mia's. I pick it up and make my way upstairs. I have to work in the morning, so I'm thinking bed sounds good right about now. I go to toss the Fed-Ex envelope on the kitchen table, when I notice it's got "Ms. Isabelle Leyton" written across the front of it. Who the hell would be sending something to me by Fed-Ex??? Letting my curiosity get the better of me, I rip it open, pulling out a white envelope that says "Open Me" and a note.

Izzie,

Merry Christmas! I spent a lot of time thinking about what to get you for Christmas. In these past two months, you've become very close to my heart. You've been a great friend and helped me with a lot. You've let me vent about work, my family, my friends, everything. So I finally figured out the perfect gift for you. Unfortunately, it couldn't be mailed, so I hope you'll accept what's in the envelope for right now...

-Jeff

He got me a Christmas present??? Now I feel like a total ass, I sent him a card, but hadn't gotten him anything. Shit! I'm going to have to figure out something to get him...wait, he spent a lot of time thinking about it. Seriously???? He said I was close to his...ohmygod. My mind is seriously revved right up to a million thoughts a second right now. Ok Izz, calm down. He's just being a nice friend, I'm sure it's some generic gift and...

Holy shit.

Are you kidding me right now?!?!?!? I ripped open the white envelope to find a set of plane tickets. From Boston to Greensboro, North Carolina. Wait, that's where Jeff is taping his show next Saturday night...WAIT, that's near where Jeff lives...Whoa, wait a minute, does he want me to use these???? There's a bright orange post it on them that says "Use Me"...what is this, Alice in Wonderland or something? Hmmm, I wonder if this is because I told him that was my favorite book of all time...nahhh, couldn't be.

Ok, back to the matter at hand. I'm currently holding a roundtrip ticket to go and see him for New Years. The plane leaves damn early on Saturday morning and returned back to Boston on Tuesday night. I have Kaplan on Wednesday. Well I wouldn't have to take any time off work, but I need time to pack, and I...whoa whoa whoa hold up Izzie, HELLO! Is your brain attached correctly? Jeff wants YOU to come see HIM! What the heck does that mean??? Friend...he's being a good friend, he knows you have nothing to do for New Years and he feels bad for you. That's it...isn't it?

**Read and Reviewwwww!!! Happy New Year Everyone! MK**


	4. Chapter 4

**Dare to Dream to the Extreme** – Chapter Four

A/N: Sorry for the long break between updates, but I have a nice long one for you and I should have the next chapter up by Sunday! Coming Home is on a little bit of a hiatus right now, I'm kinda stuck on where I want it to go from here, but fear not, it'll be back soon!

**I freakin' heart:** Nicole, Fozzy-Floozy, CountryGirl07, I'm.Totally.Fxcking.Awesome, jennaalissa (hope things are looking up for you girly! much love!), and littleone999 – you guys rock my world!!!!!

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Ok, so if you'd like a good laugh, picture this. I'm clutching a large coffee, my purse, and a carry on bag, pacing back and forth, probably setting a rut into this carpet right now. My heart is flying along at far too many beats a minute and I'm pretty sure that if I wasn't pacing right now, I'd be in the bathroom throwing up from nerves. Oh, and did I mention that I'm in the Delta terminal at Logan airport in Boston right now? I'm gripping onto my ticket to Greensboro with a death grip that could rival those characters in Mortal Kombat. Ok, so the nerves aren't all totally from going down to see Jeff (ok, well most of them are), but I also am not the biggest fan of flying either. Maybe I should go over to that stand over there and I could...

"Excuse me?"

A voice breaks through my crazy-ass thoughts and I momentarily stop my pacing. I look up to see the Delta desk attendant. I give the waiting area a once over and see that it's empty. Wait, when did they call to board the flight? Am I missing something here? What the...

"Excuse me, Miss Leyton? Will you be joining us on our flight to Greensboro this morning?" she asks again, much nicer than she should be. If I was her, I'd whack me off the head and ask me what in the hell I was doing. Then I'd probably call me a dumbass and shove me onto the plane. Then I might give me a kick for good measure and make me sit in front of a 5 year old who likes to kick the seats and a crying baby. Ok, maybe that's a little much, but still, she's being far too nice to someone who has been holding up the flight for this long.

"Joining us? I mean you, I mean...Yes, I'll be boarding the plane this morning." I give her a scatterbrained smile and stand perfectly still so she can see that I'm not nuts.

"Ummmm, the other passengers have boarded and we would like to take off soon..." she says, nodding towards the gate.

"OH!" I smile at her, hand her my ticket and walk onto the gate. Good one Izzie...reallllll good way to start off your trip. DUH!

I finish my coffee and throw my empty cup in the trash, then make my way onto the plane, keeping my gaze down at the ground so I can't see the annoyed looks of the other passengers who I made wait. Sorry guys, my bad.

I settle myself into my seat, then pull my ipod and my well worn copy of "Alice in Wonderland". Like I said before, it's my favorite book and I'm hoping that if I read it on the flight down, it will keep me nice and calm.

Who am I kidding; this is me I'm talking about. I have no such luck!

Forty three minutes into the flight and I'm holding onto the armrests like there's no tomorrow. The past 15 minutes have been very bumpy and the plane has been dipping up and down. I hate flying and I hate being so nervous about going to see Jeff! Ok...solution Izz...there's always a solution to every problem. Hmmmm...

A few minutes later, I'm sipping on a vodka tonic and trying to relax myself so maybe I can sleep. Yes, I do know that it's only 8:45 in the morning and I'm drinking but drastic times call for drastic measures, don't you think? I think its working; maybe I'll just close my eyes for a few minutes...

"Ladies and Gentleman, on behalf of Delta Airlines, I'd like to welcome you to Greensboro, North Carolina. We've got a nice sunny day for you today, with the current temperature checking in at 51 degrees. And on behalf of the whole crew for today, thank you for flying Delta and we hope to see you again."

Groggily, I blink a few times and open my eyes wide...we're not here already are we? I look out the little window and see an airstrip. Oh shit. We are here. I was going to use the ride down to think about what I was going to say to Jeff once I got here. Dammit!!!!

I exit the plane and head over to baggage claim. After waiting another ten minutes for my bag to find its way around the turnstile, I grab it and lug it over to where groups of people are waiting. Nervously, I chew my bottom lip and try to tug the wrinkles out of my brown corduroys and my sweater. I glance around, looking for Jeff, but see nothing. As I'm about to pull out my cell phone to call Jeff, I can feel someone grab me from behind. I don't even have a chance to scream, because I'm being pulled close and swung around.

"IZZIE!!!!! God it's so good to see you!!!"

My face is covered in rainbow hair and I'm still in his arms, but at this moment, I really don't care.

"Jeff!" I say excitedly, throwing my arms around him.

"Ok, Izz, lets get going, I've got like, a million people that I want you to meet and we're taping the show tonight, I can't wait for you to see it live. Then we'll head back to Cameron, Matt and I are throwing a KILLER New Years party on Monday night." Jeff has the biggest smile on his face as he's excitedly going on about everything he has planned for this weekend. I can do nothing but smile and walk next to him. I'm so glad I came. We walk out of the terminal and Jeff has a Black Expedition waiting. He grabs my bags and puts them in the back for me. Then, get this; he opens my door for me! Can you believe it?!? I don't think any guy I've ever known has done that for me! We get on the highway and Jeff gets back into his conversation

"...and there's sooo many people you have to meet when we get back to the arena! My brother Matt of course, you'll meet Dad when we go back home, and John and Randy are going to be there tonight, Ken, Carly, Chris, oh and Shannon! I can't wait for you to meet Shannon! Oh and then there's..."

Shannon? Ummmm...that's a girls name isn't it? He can't wait for me to meet Shannon? Oh god, that must be his girlfriend. I wonder why he never mentioned her before. I can feel my heart sink to my toes. Ok Izz, snap out of it! It's not like you thought anything was going to happen between the two of you on this trip anyways, right? I mean come on, look at him, and look at you! Now stop your pouting and enjoy this trip, enjoy your time with Jeff!

We pull up to the arena and get out of the SUV. We walk inside after Jeff gives a wave to a security guard and informs him that "she's with me." We make our way to a row of dressing rooms and stop in front of the one that's labeled with "Orton, Hardy, Jericho".

"I hope none of you fuckers are naked!" bellows Jeff as he shoves his way into the room. I try to hide myself behind him as we enter the room. No one is naked, but Randy is lying across a couch and a pretty brunette is perched on the end arm.

"Where's that douchebag Chris?" asked Jeff as he threw himself on the second couch across from the one Randy had claimed for himself.

"Out with the wifey for lunch I think," said Randy, propping himself up on his elbows and giving me a wave. "Hey Izzie, good to see you again."

Hmmm, that seems a little tame for the man who once called me at 2:30 am to let me know that he was running naked through the halls of the hotel they were staying in and throwing water balloons full of Jell-O at random cars out the windows. But before I have a chance to make a comment to him, the pretty brunette gets up from her perch and comes over to introduce herself.

"Hi, I'm Samantha Orton, I've heard so much about you from my evil flirt of a husband who I heard hit on you before he even knew your name." she said matter of fatly, extending her hand out to me.

I turn to Jeff, terrified. Oh my god, I don't even know this woman and she hates me because he husband hit on me! I didn't even know Randy was married!!! How did she even find out about that? I open my mouth to give a response, although to tell you the truth I have no idea what to say.

Then she jumps towards me and wraps me up in a tight embrace and begins to laugh. Huh?

"Oh, I was SO just kidding!" she says, still giggling. "I'm totally aware of my husband and his flirty ways, I just like to keep him on his toes!" We both look over to Randy who is sitting straight up and is still slightly pale. I can't help but laugh either.

"Anyways," she continues "I'm really hoping that you'll be my partner in crime this weekend. It's not often that Jeffy Weffy brings a girl around, and I'm pretty sure that you're a lot nicer than most of the Divas too. Not that they're not nice...but you just seem, well, normal. Want to go get lunch? Oh and you can call me Sam by the way, no one but my parents and Randy's Mom call me Samantha, unless..."

"Samantha! What the hell did I tell you about calling me Jeffy Weffy?" demands Jeff, a playful scowl on his face.

"Unless I call Jeff Jeffy Weffy...he hates that. Now, we'll let these two do some manly things or whatever they do when the girls are gone. Let's go get some lunch and plan the fantastic shopping trip that we're going on tomorrow!" Sam grabs my hand and she's got this electrifying smile on her face. Wow, she's defiantly a firecracker. But I guess you'd have to be to be married to Randy Orton.

"Hey!" protests Jeff "Ummm, I think Izzie came down here to see me this weekend!"

"Calm down Jeffrey, we're just going to grab a quick bite to eat over at catering, then we'll be back in plenty of time for you guys to hang out before you have to get ready for the show!" says Sam, as she's pulling me out the door.

Before I know it, we're seated in the catering area and I have a fabulous looking buffalo chicken wrap sitting in front of me. Sam is sitting across from me with a Cobb salad and a smile that could cheer up the most depressing soul in the world.

"So Izzie, what's the deal with you and Jeff? I mean, are you guys dating, or what?" she asks me between bites.

I look at her strangely. "Doesn't Jeff have a girlfriend?" I ask, licking some blue cheese dressing that has managed to fall onto my hand.

"Girlfriend?" she says, seeming equally as confused as I am at the moment.

"Yeah, he mentioned how he couldn't wait for me to meet Shannon, so I'm guessing that's the girl that he's dating, right?"

Sam gives me an amused look and bursts out laughing. Ok, now I'm not so sure about this chick. First she scares me, now she's laughing at me because Jeff has a girlfriend? Not cool. I give her a look and she stops, but she's still smiling at me.

"Izzie, he's talking about Shannon Moore, one of his best friends. Shannon is a guy, he's a wrestler, he grew up with Jeff and Matt, they've known each other forever. Trust me, Shannon is not dating Jeff. Unless of course, they've both taken on a new lifestyle!" she says with a smile.

My eyes widen. "Seriously?" I ask, a note of excitement in my voice.

"Seriously!" she laughs "Now, we've got to get down to business, that being planning our shopping trip so that we'll be the best looking partners in crime that North Carolina has ever seen and hooking you up with one Mr. Jeffrey Nero Hardy!"

I give her a smile and take another bite of my sandwich. I'm defiantly going to like this girl, I'm sure of it.

Almost twelve hours later, I find myself once again sitting in the dressing room that's shared by Jeff, Randy, and a very nice guy named Chris (who keeps calling Randy an "assclown" so that's enough to keep me amused.) Throughout the day I've met most of "the guys" who Jeff is friends with; my favorite part of the day being when I met Matt, Jeffs' brother. Apparently he's got a whole bunch of stories to tell me about him and Jeff growing up. Jeff didn't look too thrilled at that.

So I'm struggling to stay awake at this point. It's almost midnight. The show has been wrapped and Jeff is in the shower. Randy and Sam left about a half hour ago to head back to their hotel, but Sam promised to pick me up at Jeffs' place tomorrow morning. My eyelids are drooping and there is nothing more that I want than to be in bed right about now. I close them for a second, and when I open them again, a perfect pair of green ones are staring back at me.

I give Jeff a sleepy smile and stretch like a cat, pushing myself up and off the sofa. We walk out of the arena and meet up with Matt who is waiting for us at the back door. I force myself to stay awake for the first hour and a half, laughing and joking with Jeff and Matt and listening to them rag on each other, but my exhausted body gives out somewhere around 1:30AM. I've been up for almost 24 hours straight and my exhausted body is pretty much telling me to go screw, it needs to sleep.

The next thing I know, I'm being tucked into an extremely large, super comfy bed. My pale green eyes open to reveal Jeff taking much time and care tucking me into bed. My eyes flutter shut and I'm falling back to sleep, but not before I feel Jeff give me a kiss on the forehead and whisper to me "Goodnight Izzie, I'm across the hall if you need anything at all... I'm so glad that you're here..."

The next morning I wake up to the sun pouring in though the large bay window in the guest room that I'm staying in. I look at the clock radio on the nightstand and see that it's already 9:15. Shit. Sam is coming to pick me up in fifteen minutes. I've got to get showered and dressed! Before I can even climb out of bed, I hear a deep voice rumble to me from the other side of the bed.

"Good Morning Beautiful, was it good for you too?"

I don't even turn to see who the voice is coming from; I just let out an ear piercing scream that can probably be heard from miles away. I'm surprised I didn't just shatter that damn bay window just now. Who the HELL is in bed with me?!?

I sit straight up with enough time to see the somewhat confused face of Randy Orton leaping out of bed and out the door, throwing the door somewhat closed, and thundering down the stairs.

"Randall Keith Orton, what in God's name do you think you're doing up there? I leave you alone for one damned second to say hi to Gil and you're already in trouble? I can't take you ANYWHERE!" an angry voice screeches.

All of a sudden the door to my room is flung open and Jeff flies in, running over to my side.

"Are you okay?" he asks, his face a little white. I nod slowly, unable to speak at that very second.

Jeff cocks his head to the side and gives me his now infamous crooked smile. "Well I guess that proves me right that not every woman in the world wants to wake up next to Randy Orton."

I look him straight in the eye and we can't help but to burst out laughing.

Later on that night, I'm curled up on one of the couches in the living room with one of Jeff's many dogs (honestly, I can't remember all their names, there's just too many!), clad in the worlds most comfortable sweatshirt and my favorite faded gray dance pants. Sam and I had a successful shopping trip this morning, where she talked me into buying this tight little strapless black dress for the party tomorrow night. (Seriously, that girl is persuasive!) And then decided that Randy owed me for his little wake up call, so she bought me a pair of red peeptoe heels with his credit card. I really don't think I've ever owned shoes that cost this much before! Hell, they cost more than my monthly rent, but there's no arguing with Sam Orton, trust me, you don't even want to bother, cause it's pretty much useless.

So anyway, Sam and Randy met up with John and his new girlfriend Grace for dinner tonight, but Jeff and I opted to stay in since we hadn't had a lot of time to hang out just the two of us. Jeff's dad Gil (who might I say is probably the nicest person I've ever met in my entire life!) and Matt had dinner with us, but have both since left, so Jeff and I are in the middle of a movie marathon of Adam Sandler movies. We're in the middle of "Big Daddy" which is one of my all time favorites, and I'm currently doing a number on the massive bowl of popcorn that I just made for us, even though we had a huge dinner at 7, ice cream during "The Waterboy", and salsa and chips when we watched Billy Madison.

Jeff has been inching towards me throughout the night. He started off on the overstuffed lounge chair next to the couch that I've been on all night, then he sat on the couch with me. And for the better part of the movie, he's been inching his way over. What's up with that? Absently, Jeff reaches for a handful of popcorn from the bowl that's sitting on my lap and ends up grabbing my leg instead. I curl my body around the huge metal bowl and turn so my back is facing him.

"Back off my snack Hardy!" I laugh, giving him a mischievous grin. He leans over to try and catch sight of the bowl.

"Oh come on Izz, just gimme a little bit!" he whines in protest, reaching his hands towards me.

"Nuh uh!" I say, covering the bowl with my body and stuffing a handful in my mouth (REAL classy Izzie! Totally!!!)

"Oh you are going DOWN Leyton!" he declares, as he grabs me by the waist and begins to tickle me.

Oh shit, I'm screwed. I despise being tickled, but that's probably because you will not meet a more ticklish person on this earth than me.

"Nooooo!" I shriek, trying to jump off the couch, but he's got a damn good grip on my waist. He flips me over and holds me down by keeping his knee over my legs. The popcorn bowl flips out of my grasp as he's trying to accomplish this and flies into the air and all over us. However, this does nothing to stop Jeff from pinning my arms above my head with one hand, keeping my legs down with his knee and continuing his very own brand of tickle torture on my sides. I'm pretty sure my face is bright red and I'm making a real attempt to squirm out of his hold, but it'd be a cold day in hell before that happened, I'm sure of that now.

"Ok! Ok! Ok!" I gasp, trying to catch my breath. "I give! The white flag has been raised. You are far superior in strength to me. All bow down to Jeff Hardy, king of tickle torture!"

Jeff begins to laugh, as he reaches his arm out and grabs one of my arms in each hand, but he's still got me pinned down. I swear to god, those damn eyes of his can look right through me. Hmm, why the hell isn't he letting me up? Wait a minute, what the...?

Jeff loosens his grasp on my arms, but he's slowly lowering his head towards mine. His eyes are half shut, but are totally locked on mine. Oh my god, he's not going to try and...

At the last second I throw myself upwards, smacking heads with Jeff in the process. We both let out a scream at the same time and I'm looking at him with panicked eyes.

"I...I...I..." I stutter, then I throw my hand over my stupid mouth so that I can keep it from saying anything else. My eyes are wide and pretty much horrified. The lump that is forming in my throat at the moment is making it hard to breathe. Shit. I slowly remove my hand from my mouth.

"I'm going to go to bed, Night Jeff." I say in a low scared whisper. I can't seem to look him in the face, so I've got a pretty darn good view of the hardwood floor right now. Then I turn and seriously RUN up the stairs and into the guest room.

UGH!!!! Izzie, you stupid stupid stupid!!!!!!! What am I going to do with me?

**Read and Review!!!!! MK**


	5. Chapter 5

Dare to Dream to the Extreme – Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long, I've got some serious writers block going on here! The following fabulous folks totally rock my socks!!!: **littleone999, SKYE-07, ****jennaalissa****, unlimited emerald0307, awprncss4386, ****lowritheaussie****, JeffHardyFan02**. Thanks so much for your reviews and keep 'em coming!!!!

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"Stop laughing Mia, it isn't funny!!!!"

"Ohhh Izz, I'm sorry...but I still can't believe that you two smacked heads! Why in the hell didn't you just kiss him? I would have jumped him!" Mia let out another round of laughter and I pouted.

Ok, so I'm currently hiding in the bathroom that's in the guest room at Jeff's. It's 8 in the morning, the day after my head smack debacle with Jeff (I have the red mark on my forehead to prove it!) and by the grace of God, Mia is up early (6AM!)to get in a full day of skiing in Colorado, so she saw my desperate "911!!!"text messages that I had sent beforeI fell asleep last night, took pity on my dumb ass and called me.

"Miaaaaaaaa! What the hell am I going to do? I can't face him after what happened last night! He's going to think that I'm the biggest moron that ever lived! Why would he want to kiss me anyways?"

"Isabelle. Let's discuss. Jeff LIKES you! Why else would he have kept talking to you all this time?Why else would he have invited you down to stay with him?Why else would he have tried to kissyou?" Mia said sternly. "Hello, Leyton! Are any thoughts besides sports statistics inhabiting that massive brain of yours? Open your eyes! Look what's in front of you! Now I'm going skiing, but talk to Sam, maybe she can smack some sense into you! I miss you Izzie and I can't wait till I see you tomorrow night. Call me at midnight your time, ok?"

"I hate when you call me Isabelle" I grumbled.

"Yeah, well, you also hate it when I'm right too." laughed Mia "Bye Izz!"

"Bye Mia, miss you too!" I said, before hanging up my phone.

(I really do hate when she's right, it's effing annoying.)

I make my way out of the bathroom, pulling on my hoodie, a pair of jeans, and myRed Sox hat, making sure to cover up the massive red mark that's on my head, and walkout into the hallway.Jeff's door is shut andI can't say I'm upset. He must still be sleeping, so that gives me some more time to plan out what exactly I'm going to say when I see him this morning. I walk quietly downstairs and into the kitchen where I put on a pot of coffee. Just as I'm pouring myself a cup, the front door opens to reveal Gilbert Hardy. I greet him good morning and pour him a cup as well. A few minutes later Matt joined us in the kitchen, fresh of his morning run.

"You're far too motivated in the morning." I told him with a smile, handing him a cup of coffee. Matt raised his eyebrows at me and gave Gil a contemplative glance.

"SWEATY HUGS!" he bellowed, enveloping my in a tight embrace.

"Ugh Matt, gross!!!" I protest, trying to squirm out. "You're worse than Randy!!!"

"What? What did I do?" protested Randy, as heand Sam walked through the front door. Gil, Matt, and I looked at each other and just burst out laughing.

"Seriously!?!?! I haven't done anything yet! WHAT!" yelled Randy, confused.

"Oh relax Orton, we're just screwing with ya!" laughed Matt as Gil gave him a slap on the back. I gave him his own trademark Orton smirk and handed him and Sam a cup of coffee.

"So what's the plan?" Sam asked me.

"Well, I guess that John and Grace will be here for set up around 3'ish." I began

"Shannon and Shane are heading over after they get rid of their hangovers from last night, probably at like 6." cut in a laughing Matt

"Yeah so the only person we're waiting for now is..." started Sam

"Mornin' douchebag, don't you look like a fucking ray of sunshine this morning!" bellowed Matt.

My eyes widened and I turned my head to see an exhausted and somewhat grumpy looking Jeff making his way downstairs, a bright red mark on his forehead prominent and beaming for all to see. He gives Matt a scowl and makes his way over to the counter where he proceeds to silently pour himself a cup of coffee. He gives me a quick sidelong glance, but as we catch looks, he quickly turns away. Shit! What have I done??? Nice going Izzie!!!

"Sam and I will run to the grocery store and the packie." I say quickly, grabbing the list that Jeff and I had made last night, then grabbing Sam by her wrist and dragging her out

"Packie?" says Matt, confused.

I give him a look, "Y'know, a packie...like package store?" Confused looks from everyone in the room are shot at me.

"Ok, the _liquor store_. Is that better?" I grumble.

"Boston girl." smirks Randy as I once again drag Sam out the doorand into their rental car.

"...and now I think he hates me or something!" I wailed to Sam, burying my face in my hands.as we pulled into the parking lot of the supermarket down the street from Jeff's place.

"Ok, calm down Izzie, he doesn't hate you!" Sam said soothingly

"Yes he does Sam! He wouldn't even look at me when he came downstairs! What am I going to do? I should just leave now, I should just..."

"Izz! You should just calm down, take a deep breath, and stop panicking. He's probably a littleembarrassed that you didn't want to kiss him." said Sam

"But that's just it Sam, I DO want to kiss him, I mean I did, I mean, I, ummm...ughhh!"Iyelled, frustrated.

"What am I going to do with you Izzie?" said Sam with a smile, pulling me into a side hug. "Everything is going to work out fine, trust me."

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About twelve hours later, Sam and I were holed up in the guest room as we finished getting ready.

"I don't know Sam," I said, tugging on the black strapless dress that we had picked out a few days earlier. "Are you sure this looks ok on me? I mean, I don't think I've worn anything like this since ...well since ever!"

Sam looked up from where she was giving my hair a few finishing swipes with her straightener. "Izz, you look amazing! You're going to blow him away when you walk downstairs!" she said with a smile. She stood up and began to adjust her turquoise blue mini skirt and tightened the back of her white halter top.

"Izzie's gonna blow who away tonight?" asked Randy as he walked into the room.

"Jeff" Sam said nonchalantly

"Sam!" I yelled

"Ahhhh, Izzie and Jeff are gonna be railin it tonight!" laughed Randy

"Jeff's going to be railing who tonight?" asked Matt, as he followed in after Randy.

"Izzie." said a laughing Randy

"RANDY!!" I shrieked. I could feel my face turning bright red. It was going to be one hell of a long night. "You think that any of you can manage to keep your mouths shut for the next few hours while I do this **myself**?"

"Haha, you're going to do it." snickered Randy.

"My God, it's like dealing with 6th graders." I muttered, slipping into my new red shoes.

"Don't worry, we'll get him back tonight," Sam whispered into my ear as we walked out the door and to the stairwell

The party was already in full swing when we got downstairs. Sam and I made our way to the bar where she quickly fixed us both a vodka tonic with extra limes. We turned around to survey what was in front of us. Pretty much every WWE Superstar who had been at the show on Saturday night was here. I searched the room for Jeff but couldn't find him in the mass of people. Ugh, this was going to be harder than I thought.

Sam and I walked around for a while, as she introduced me to the people that I didn't know and saying hello to the ones that I did. I finished the last of my drink and went for another. As I walked over to the bar, I passed Jeff, who seemed to be in deep conversations with one of the Diva's. I did a double take and dropped my head,sighing as I realized thatI had passed on my one and only chance with Jeff. Nice going Izzie, you really blew it this time.

I walked to the bar and made myself an extra strong drink, I mean, Mia always drinks her guy problems away, why can't I?

"Why so sad pretty lady? This is onekiller party!"

I looked up to see Shannon Moore, beer bottle in hand, smiling over me.

"Hey Shannon, no I'm fine, totally fine, I'm having a great time." I said, smiling weakly. "Care to partake with me?" I asked, holding up one of the bottles of Patron tequila.

"I never could say no to a pretty face." he said with a grin. I poured the two of us a hefty dose into the two awaiting shot glasses.

"Cheers," I said, clinking my glass to his and tossing the tequila down. Ugh, why did I just do that? Umm, earth to Izzie, you HATE tequila. Ok, so this drinking the problems away, this is defiantly not me, I'm going to have to find another means to make myself feel better.

An hour and a halfor so later,I had changed my drink of choicefrom hard liquor to the reserves of champagne that were supposed to be saved for midnight, but Sam and I figured that two missing bottles wouldn't hurt the stash of 8 cases that were currently in the pool house. Oh and Sam and I had also found something to get my mind off of Jeff, and that mixed with the champagne has made me a giggly mess.

Laughing like we'd never stop, Sam and I scurried in from the back deck and back into the house. We passed a few groups of people until we found Matt, John, and a few others talking. We quickly slide in between the group, hiding behind Matt and John, champagne bottles in hand. Sam looked at me and grinned. "Three, Two, One, and..."

"SAMANTHA! ISABELLE! You two are SO DEAD! Where are you?!?!?!"

The loud angry voice of Randy Orton echoed throughout the house. He angrily stomped in from the back porch, soaked from head to toe. An immediate gale of laughter took up through out the party, with cameras flashing and cell phones clicking.

Sam and I laughed ever harder and continued to hide behind Matt and John. Randy stomped furiously though the house, over to Matt and John.

"Uhh dude, you're dripping on the floor, maybe you'd like a little help, said a snickering Matt, who pulled a small kitchen towel off the counter and could barely manage to keep his composure as he handed it over to Randy.

"Very funny asshole, now would you mind telling me where the hell my wife and her little partner in crime are? Those two pushed me into the pool! That shit is cold man!!!" Randy complained.

"Really man? I couldn't even tell." said John, as he began to crack up again.

Randy began to look around and Sam and I just couldn't help ourselves! We began to loudly crack up again and Randy quickly spotted us.

"YOU!" he yelled at us. The two of us let out a shriek and jumped up to run away.

"Divide and conquer!" yelled Sam as she grabbed her champagne bottle and ran off in the direction of the stairs. I took her advice,grabbed my bottle of champagneand ran inthe opposite direction. With a scowl, Randy took off after his wife.

Taking no changes, I took off out the front door, stopping to catch my breath and laugh once more. I don't know what it is about champagne that makes you feel so damn happy, but I'm telling you, it feels like those little bubbles are doing the cha-cha on my brain right now, so I can't help but smile. I glance over to the side porch and see someone's shadowy figure sitting on the steps.

"30 seconds till midnight!!!" I can hear people calling from inside, but I'm walking towards whoever is sitting on the steps by themselves. I stop in front of the steps, looking directly at their face.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 5, 6, 4, 3, 2..." Everyone is screaming and cheeringinside.

Without really stopping to think about it, I grab the back of the neck that sits in front of me and pull it close, then wrap my arms around the body, kissing the lips quickly, but with more passion that I ever knew I had. Those champagne bubbles are really starting to do a number on me; I think they've moved on from the cha-cha to the tango or something. Seriously.

I hardly get a chance to pull away before a set of strong arms are pulling me back in for another kiss.

"Happy New Year Izzie"

"Happy New Year..."

Readdddddd and Review!!!!! (Pretty Please!) **MK**


	6. Chapter 6

**Dare to Dream to the Extreme – Chapter Six**

**Authors Note: Sorry it took me soooo long to update! I've been pretty sick and had to spend some QT in the emergency room last week. But fear not, Izzie (and me!) are back! The following people are freakin' awesome!: Nicole, littleone999, XtremeGirl619, lowritheaussie, awprncss4386, princess-enigma, unlimitedemerald0307, and Kate Swanson. Thanks so much you guys! I'm loving the feedback! **

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Ohhh god...headache. Oh my god, what is this? Oh wait, hangover...ohhhh hangover. I haven't dealt with one of these since college (wow, I think that officially makes me totally lame). I half open one eye to look over to the alarm clock that sits on the bedside table. Wait, where's the alarm clock? Hold up, where the heck is the night stand? This is not my guest room! I quickly sit up and my head is totally pissed at me for it, so it begins to make the room spin in retaliation. Oh shit, gotta hold on to the bed. I grab for the mattress and get an arm instead. Arm? What? Randy better not be in my bed again or I swear that little fucker is going back to the bottom of the pool and NOT coming back up. I glance under the covers to see that I've fallen asleep in my dress from the night before. Well, at least I'm wearing clothes. That's got to be a good start, right? Ohhh here come the spins again. Yeah Izzie, that _entire bottle_ of champagne was such a good idea, and those tequila shots? Effing genius...ugh

Slowly I turn my head to the right and see the slumbering form next to me. A smile breaks out on my face and the memories of last night and how I got here flood back into my brain. As I'm crawling back under the covers to curl up next to him and fall back asleep, the door bursts open and Sam busts through.

"GOOD MORNING!" she yells before jumping on the bed and bouncing between the two of us until I sit back again.

"Sammmmm" I whine, giving her a whack on the arm.

"Hey! Am I missing group orgy time? You trying to leave me out or something?" asks a voice that seems to be coming from...the floor? Huh?

Sam flips her head over the side of the bed and comes back up grinning at the same time that Shannon pops his head up.

"Did somebody say group orgy? I'm in!" says Randy as he busts through the door as well. Sam glares at him and narrows her eyes.

"Or maybe not" says Randy, settling himself on the bed.

I pull the covers over me, turn my body around and come face to face with perfect green eyes.

"Good morning," says Jeff, his voice sleep laced and still somewhat tired. He's smiling at me and I'm pretty sure that in this moment, at this very second, I don't think I've ever been happier in my entire life. "We have visitors I take it?" he asks as he wraps his arms around me, pulling me in close.

"Ahh yes, a Sam Orton wake up called, followed by Shannon's request for group sex, and ending with Randy and his desire to be involved in the afore mentioned group sex." I whispered.

"Sam gave him the angry eyes, didn't she?" he whispered back, laughing

"Ok, what's going on under there? Because if you two are doing the nasty with us in the room, that's just wrong! Unless you invite me to join in, totally wrong!" yells Shannon as he rips the covers off of us.

"Awwww! Special moment!" yells Randy as he sees the two of us. Sam laughs as she sees that I've still got my dress on and at that moment, Matt walks in.

"Ok, seriously, Dad won't let me eat breakfast until y'all come downstairs. Can ya hurry up? I'm hungry!" he whines. I half expect him to cross his arms in front of his body, scowl, and start to stomp his feet. He then finally notices that Jeff and I are in bed together and gives his brother a knowing smile. I toss my pillow at his head.

"You can take the rest of them with you Matt, but I'm thinking that I want to change first. I'll be down in a few." I say, attempting to climb out of bed. No such luck. Jeff's got a tight hold around me and doesn't show signs of wanting to let go. I think I can deal. With that, Matt, Shannon, Sam, and Randy make their way out of the room.My pale green eyes fix on his and we've got a stare down going on. I'm afraid that if I blink, this moment will disappear, so I'm not taking any chances. Deep breath Izz.

"So last night..." I begin in an almost whisper.

"Was something I've wanted to do since the moment I met you." he finishes, cracking another trademark grin.

Ok, so you know that when you were little and you mad a funny face and your mother told you that if you kept it there long enough it was going to freeze that way? Well at this rate, I'm going to have perma-smile until I'm 90. The smile can not be taken away from me right now. I just can't stop looking at him and taking in this moment.

"Isabelle, I've never met anyone quite like you. And I have the red mark on my forehead to prove it." he says, giving me a goofy look. "And I would really love nothing more than to be able to call you my girlfriend."

Wait. Did he just say girlfriend? Super-hot wrestling super-star say what? Am I missing something here? Is he still drunk from last night? I must be mistaken or something, I must be...

All thoughts are pushed from my head when he pulls me close and gives me the most mind blowing kiss that I've ever received in my entire life. We continue kissing until I realize that there's a distinct possibility that I may pass out from lack of oxygen if I don't pull away.

Starry-eyed, I look him straight in the face.

"Do you know what you're getting into Jeff? I'm a total disaster. I never say the right thing. I'm the worst procrastinator you'll ever meet. I forget things all the time. I'd rather watch a baseball game then do my make-up. I can rattle off football stats, but I can't remember anniversaries. I know more about sports than any guy I know, which trust me, is apparently more intimidating than I realize. I over analyze everything. And I throw my heart and soul into everything I do, which I've learned over the years is a bad trait. Jeff, I..."

I'm cut off again as I'm pulled into another mind blowing, crazy passionate kiss.

"Izzie. I don't care. I don't care about any of that. Nothing that you just said makes me want you any less. The only thing I care about is you and whether or not you are going to answer _yes_ to my previous statement."

Now honestly, what do you say to that besides...?

"Yes..." I give him another near whisper and a shy smile.

He pulls me in close, his hand dropping to my waist as he slowly grazes his fingers across my hipbone. For the first time in my life, everything is right with the world...

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"Ya know Sammy, you should really tell your husband not to low-blow my boyfriend like that, it's not very nice." I manage to get out before bursting into a massive case of girly giggles which is quickly followed by a fit of sneezes and coughing.

It's Monday night, just about two weeks after Jeff and I became an "official" couple and Sam and I are participating in our newest tradition of having a lengthy phone conversation while our significant others are beating the snot out of each other.

I still really don't understand a damn thing about wrestling (which shocks Jeff to death since I'm such a sport nuts), but what I do know is that Jeff and Randy are in a "feud" on their show Raw and they've been beating on each other for about two weeks now. And tonight is no exception. Randy has just given Jeff a painful looking shot to "the boys" and now their beating on each other at the beginning of that little walk-way that they come down on every night.

The show is being taped live from Connecticut tonight, not three hours from me. And I was supposed to be there tonight, however this miserable cold that's been plaguing me since I stepped off the plane at Logan on New Years Day has finally caught up to me and I've been bed-ridden all day long. I'm super pissed that I've become a walking plague, because I haven't seen Jeff since New Years, and not to be getting all super girly or anything, but I miss him, like alot.

Ok, so now Jeff and Randy are continuing to beat the ever living daylights out of each other and it looks like. Hey wait a minute, what the hell? Ok, so it looked like Randy was going to knock Jeff off the side of the stage-y thing, but Jeff just up and picked him up and tossed him over his back off the side and onto some structure. Holy crap!

"Ouch... looks like I'm going to be spending some quality time with my husband and the trainer tonight getting his back checked out." says Sam with a laugh. She's used to all this craziness, so pretty much nothing phases her anymore when it comes to this.

I continue to watch and see my boyfriend jump off the side and begin to climb some tall metal thing (yes, I'm very technical with my terms) that looms over where Randy is laying, not moving.

"Sammy, is Rand ok?" I ask a bit nervously. He still hasn't moved, and there are pieces of what looks to be splintered plywood strewn across him.

"Yeah, he's fine, just hamming it up. He probably just wants sympathy sex tonight or something." she says mockingly and we both get a good laugh. "Hey check out your man showing off up there!"

Jeff is about fifteen feet up on the metal tower, waving his hands and screaming to his fans. I have to laugh, but yet I'm smiling too. I can see it in his eyes how much he loves what he's doing. Seeing that love from him makes me care about him all the more. Swoon (ok ok, I'm sure you don't care about that, but I just wanted to add that in their)

"Hah, ooohhh nooo. Looks like Jeffy Weffy is going to jumppppp." says Sam in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh I am totally telling him that you called him Jeffy Weffy!" I say, my voice filled with laughter. I can't believe how lucky I am. I have this amazing new boyfriend and it's like I've gotten a package deal. Not only do I have him in my life, but I have some amazing new friends in the form of Sam, Matt, John, Shannon, and yeah, I guess even Randy too. Not to be cliché or anything, but I really do feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Oh god, I've turned into a sap.

Jeff does look like he's going to jump, but then decides to...ok, now he's climbing higher up on top the tower.

"What a show off." I say, before sneezing in Sam's ear.

"Thanks Izz, that was exactly what I needed." Sam laughs.

Jeff is now about thirty feet in the air, once again waving his arms triumphantly and making like he's about to jump.

"Hah, the fans are going to love this cliffhanger," said Sam "They're going to cut away so that they won't be able to know if Jeff jumps or not."

"Just as long as he doesn't jump, that's all I care! He'd kill them bo..." Then I'm cut off by Sam's horrified gasp and my head snaps back to the TV. My boyfriend is currently doing a back flip, mid air, thirty feet up. I can't even scream before he comes crashing down onto Randy. My breath is caught up in my throat as I watch carefully, but don't see any movement from either man. My terrified eyes scan across the screen for any signs of life.

"Sam," I manage to squeak out. "Sammy are they..."

Sam takes second to respond, so that's how I know that anything that is about to come out of her mouth is going to be a blatant lie on her part. "They're fine Izz, they're just hamming it up. It's gotta look good, ya know?" but her voice is shaking and her breathing has become like mine, ragged and shallow.

I pull myself off the couch and make my way over to the TV. I run my fingers across the screen, where Jeff and Randy are laying, motionless. "Jeff," I whisper softly, as a few tears run down my face. "God please be ok. Both of you..."

"Sam!" I say, hints of desperation beginning to thread through my voice. "Sam, what's going on there?" Just then, I can see paramedics on screen starting to strap both Jeff and Randy onto backboards. I can also here the sounds of knocking at Randy's dressing room door, where Sam currently is. "Miss Orton," I hear, before the voices become muffled.

"Izz," I hear her somewhat desperate voice "Izz, I'll call you right back ok?" before she hangs up the phone.

I sit on my couch, absolutely horrified. They're only 3 hours away. I can be down there soon enough, I can borrow a car, I can get there, I can help. I call Jeff's cell phone, but just get his voicemail. "It's me, umm…please call me Jeff, I'm kinda freakin' out right now. Just, umm….just call me ok?"

Fifteen minutes later and my brain feels like it's melted and is about to dribble out my ear. The combination of this bug and the lack of phone calls from anyone right now has just drained me. I've called Jeff's phone six more times with no answer.

Then, a buzzing comes from the coffee table and I look down to my cell phone which reads "Sam"

I grab my phone and whip it open. "Sammy! Sam what's going on? Are they ok? Are you at the hospital? How's Jeff? How… how's Rand? What's going on Sam?"

"One second Izz," she begins. I can tell she's trying to cover the mouthpiece, but it's not working very well, because I can currently hear: _**And one more thing Randall Keith Orton, if you EVER keep something like this a secret EVER again, you will have HELL to pay! Poor Izzie was horrified, oh and don't you worry because Jeff is getting his from me too! And your mother!! She's been calling both of us non stop since you two decided to pull that little stunt of yours. Now shut up and let the**_ _**medics look you over before I send your dumb ass to the hospital myself!**_

"Hey Izzie," I hear her get back on the phone. "These two idiots of ours are fine. They've had this planned for weeks now, but didn't want to _freak us out _but telling us. They're both hurting puppies and will be for a while, but no perminate damage. Unless you count the _**brain damage**_ in both of them that was already there" she yells and I know that's for Randy's benefit.

"So they did it without telling us???" I say in between hacking coughs "Like that makes it better for us."

"Ugh, I know, I've gotta go call Randy's mother and let her know her idiot son is ok. Your dumb ass boyfriend will be calling you as soon as the medics are done with him." Sam said "Call you tomorrow chicky, hope you feel better babes."

Breathing a sigh of relief, I hang up and lay back down onto the couch. At least he's alright, I keep thinking to myself. My head is so stuffy I'm pretty sure that it's going to explode into a million pieces. No sooner do I turn on ESPN then does my phone ring. **Call from Jeff Hardy. **My phone reads and I flip it open.

"Don't you ever do that again!" I yell with more emotion than I knew I had. I clap my hand over my mouth. Did I just say that???? "I mean, uhhh.."

"Awww Izz, I'm sorry. I really am. It's just that Randy and I didn't think that telling you girls was the best idea. I'm fine, I swear, we did it safe. The medics checked me out. I'm gonna be sore as hell for the next few days, but no worse for the wear. I'm sorry I scared you darlin', I'll make it up to you."

"Well don't do it again." I said, with a sneeze "I've gotten used to having you around."

Jeff laughed. "Go to bed babes, you need to get yourself better!"

"Ok ok ok. I'll talk to you later, Goodnight Jeff." I say, smiling

"Night Izz," he says before hanging up the phone

I grab the remote and change it to the news. I'm totally exhausted from being sick, but after sleeping all day, I can't find my way back into dreamland. After a few restless hours of tossing and turning, I end up falling asleep on the couch at around 3:45 in the morning.

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_Buzzzzzz Buzzzzzzzz……_

At the annoying sound of vibration on wood, I wake up, confused and groggy. What the heck?

**New Text Message from Jeff Hardy:**  
_**Open your front door**_

_**-J**_

Huh? What the hell? I get up off the couch, wrap myself in my blanket and make my way downstairs. I pull open my front door and I'm sure that the cold medication that I'm on is making me hallucinate. Cause Jeff couldn't possibly be standing in my doorway right now, could he?

"Hey beautiful," he says with a smile.

I drop my blanket and throw my arms around him. He winces a little in pain, but wraps his arms around me none the less.

"I thought you weren't going to be able to come up here for another two weeks!" I say, my face buried in his chest.

"I pulled some strings and made a few changes, and after tonight I needed to make it up to you. And besides, I need to take care of my girl." He said, pulling me closer.

With that, we walked upstairs and crawled into my bed, Jeff fell asleep almost instantly, but I fought it for a few extra minutes, because I realized that I'd never felt anything that came close to how I felt when I was wrapped in his arms.

**A little fluffy chapter for you, but it's going to start getting A LOT more interesting, trust me! Read and Review!!!! -MK**


	7. Chapter 7

**Dare to Dream to the Extreme**** – Chapter 7**

**Ugh, this ****writers**** block has been killing me! But I'm back**** and ****realllly**** hoping that I won't be waiting so long between updates. The creativity is starting to flow again. Well, that and I've pretty much got the rest of this story outlined (but not written) so that helps too! As always, I totally love and appreciate the following fabulous people: ****awprncss4386** **lowritheaussie****Kate Swanson****, Nicole, ****littleone999****unlimited emerald0307****XtremeGirl619****Fozzy****-Floozy****lysia1982****, and ****JCJF.lover**

**You guys rock!!!!**

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"And it's an actual writing job! Well, not a paid one, but I'm going to be published Jeff! My byline is going to be in a publication!" I squealed to Jeff like a school girl.

"That's so great baby, I'm so proud of you! See, you're on your way! Next stop grad school, then straight on till you're the most popular writer at ESPN Magazine or Sports Illustrated! They're going to be fighting over you soon enough!" Jeff said enthusiastically. "Have a safe flight Izz and I'll see you in a few hours!" he said before hanging up the phone.

Ok, so it's about one month after Jeff took his 30 foot dive (which I now know to be called a "Swanton Bomb"? Yeah, I don't get it either, but I'm learning!) And I am whereI tend to be every Friday afternoon since that night. At Logan airport flying out to meet Jeff wherever city he happens to be in that weekend. This weekend happens to be Valentines Day weekend, or rather the day after, but Jeff and I are celebrating tonight. I'm super excited because this weekend's destinationis California and I'm dying for some sun after endless weeks of grey dreary cold weather in Somerville.

So I'm walking on air at this moment because I just found out hours earlier that Mia's father had managed to talk one of his buddies, who owned a stash of local newspapers, into letting me write sports for him. So sure I had the crappy high school sports beat and I wasn't getting paid and I was going to have to bust my ass ten times more than I already was doing, butI was going to be _writing_. Like, for real. And no one could take that away from me. I felt a small pang in my heart, as right before I had called Jeff, I had called my parents in excitement; I couldn't wait to tell them. My father was drunk, per the usual, and my mother couldn't have sounded any less enthused if she tried. After giving me a half assed "well isn't that special." she then lectured me about the difference between a dreamer and a realist and how I needed to start working on being a realist. Then she yelled at me becauseI hadn't yet brought Jeff home to meet them.

I've been avoiding that like the plague. About three weeks ago, I unfortunately managed to slip up and tell my older brother about Jeff and he of course ran right to my mother with the news. So of course she immediately called me to yell at me, asking my why I hadn't told her about him and when was I bringing him down to meet her. I managed to appease her when I said that he had a very busy schedule and traveled a lot for work. I did leave out exactly what he did for work, because I didn't want to give her any more ammunition against me. Before I brought him down to face the hounds I'd let her know, gently and at the right time.

I glance at my phone and see that its 2:15 (it's a good thing I was able to sneak out of work at 12 with a "cold") andmy plane is boarding now. I still hate flying, but I've gotten a little more used to it. Jeff even made me a playlist on my iPod called "Songs to make the flight suck less". Yeah, he's cute, I know.

Before I know it, the six hour flight is over and I'm stepping off the plane in LA and its 3:30. I'm so excited because first of all, I've never been to the west coast before and second of all, Jeff says that he has a big surprise for me at dinner tonight. I've been instructed to take a cab to the hotel, where he has already checked in to, but he's at the arena in a meeting right now. That was fine with me, as it would give me plenty of time to lay down for an hour,call Sam, freak out about what to wear/say/do, then get ready in enough time to meet him downstairs at the bar (very Pretty Woman, except for the fact that I'm not nearly as beautiful as Julia Roberts)

After getting off the phone with Sam (who is coming to LA tomorrow with Randy's parents) and choosing a jade green dress that Mia had forced me to buy, alongwith some black heels, I took my time inshoweringand doing my hair and makeup since I didn't have to meet Jeff downstairs until 7.

I got down to the bar around 6:40, a little early I know, but Ididn't want to take any chanceswith being late. I figure that sitting here for a few minutes will help me calm my nerves of seeing Jeff tonight. He has something important to tell me? Oh my god, what if he's breaking up with me?!? I take a seat in a high backed bar chair and order myself a soda water.

Ok, honestly, who amI kidding? I'm worse that a cat on catnip right now. I grabmy straw and began chewing on it nervously in between sips.

"Hungry?" asks the older Bartender, as he mixes up a batch of cosmos for a group of women at the end of the bar.

"Huh? No, I mean, yes, I mean, I'm just a little... well, I guess I am, but...ummm, uhhh.." I stutter, fidgeting in my seat and biting my lower lip.

The bartender smiles at me, and pulls out a bottle of expensive looking red wine, poursa small half-glass and pushes it towards me with a smile.

"For the nerves" he says, then goes back to squeezing limes into his perfectly pink drinks.

A few sips later and I'm feeling a little better, I turn to glance back at the grandfather clock in the corner, when I catch a glimpse of Jeff walking into the bar. His eyes catch mine and I can't help but break into a goofy smile as he walks towards me. He looks amazing, still in his usual dress (which makes me happy that he doesn't feel like he has to dress up to impress me, he does that all on his own!) His newly dyed hair is pulled back into a low ponytail and those perfect green eyes of his burn through my gaze and just his look allows a bright red blush to creep onto my cheeks.

"My lady" he says gallantly, swooping down into a bow and holding out his hand for me. In the other is one perfect bright pink rose.I put my hand in his and hop down from my seat.Jeff hands me the flower and I stand on tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. ThenI pull a 5 out of the silver cultch that Mia told me would look "perfect" with my dress and leave it on the bar.

"Thank You!" I call to the bartender. He smiles and gives me a nod as Jeff and I walk out the door and outside.

Three hours later and we're back in the car that Jeff had rented to drive us around of the night. We'd hadthe bestdinner at the most totally amazing sushi restaurant that I had ever been too. It was perfect, nice and easygoing, and we were able to just take our time and enjoy the entire evening. We had also indulged (ok, maybe just a bit too much) in hot sake and white wine throughout the meal. So as we're riding along the darkened streets of LA, I'mtotally content and quiet, happy to just be near him, but still secretly scared of the big news that he has for me. What the hell could it be? All I really want to know is if it's good or bad.

Suddenly,Jeff grabs me around the waist and draws me right next to him, pulling me from my thoughts. I look at him and all I can see are those perfect green eyes looking at me. He brushes a stray lock of blonde hair behind my ear and slowly kisses me on the forehead. God I love that. I close my eyes and snuggle up next to him as he absently plays with my hair.

About twenty minutes later I realize that we're no longer within the city limits and I look out of the window just in time to see an "Entering Santa Monica" sign fly past us. I look up at Jeff and he smiles at me as the car comes to a stop in a small parking lot. I sit up and look around, seeing that we're at the beach. Confused, I give him a questioning look, but all he does is smile again and pull me out of the car. We walk down towards the sandy beach and I then notice that he's carrying a basket or bag or something. He pulls out a blanket and lays it down on the sand. That is quickly followed by a very expensive lookingbottle of champagne, and a box of...oh my god seriously? Jeff just pulled the most perfect looking chocolate covered strawberries out, which is then followed by a small black velvet box with a tiny red bow on the top. I can only stare as he smiles at me and pats the blanket next to him, signaling me to sit down. At this point I can only do one thing. I burst into tears, turn myself around and walk as quickly as heels in sand can move.

I make it about fifteen feet away before my always graceful self takes a dive, trippingover a rock and falling flat on my face. Nice move Izz, really, most definatly one of your finest.

"Izzie!" yells Jeff as he catches up to me. "What's wrong? Y'ok? Why ya crying darlin'?" he said, concerned. I pull myself up into a sitting position and begin to brush the sand from my face, which is brighteffingred by the way (thank god it's dark and Jeff can't see). I look into his eyes and all I can see is concern and worry, which makes me start to well up again.

"Izz," he says, taking my hands in his. "Izzie, please tell me what's going on?

"I don't deserve this! I mean, look at me and you and you deserve so much better than me and someone who can be with you all the time and I just...and I mean come on Jeff, I just, I...I...I..."

I'm babbling now, and there's not a chance in the world that any I just said made one lick of sense, but it's better than telling him...

"Isabelle" he said sternly, gently pulling on my hands.

"I'm in love with you!" I quickly blurt out. My eyes widen in horror and I pull both hands from his grasp, clapping them both over my mouth. Stupid!!! Dammit! If I had just kept talking and not let myheart connect to my mouth everything would have been fine! Nice going Izz, really good, honestly that was just...

"I love you too Izzie"

My mind completely stops and it's like the entire world has just frozen. He didn't just say that,my mind is SO playing tricks on me right now, tricks that aren't very niceI might add! There is no way in the world that Jeff just told me what I thought he just said.

"Isabelle Madison Leyton, I love you. God, I love you more than Iknew I could ever love someone. I love to fall asleep with you in my arms and wake up to your smile. I love that you call me before and after ever match just to make sure I'm ok. I love that you babble when you're nervous and that when you're really bad, you recite baseball stats to calm yourself down. I love that you bite your bottom lip when you're thinking real hard about something.I love that you knew nothing about what I do, but you're trying so hard to learn. I love that my family and friends love you. I love that you give up your weekends ever week to come and see me, no matter where I am. I love that I can talk to you on the phone for hours and still hang up wanting more. I love that when I look into those eyes of yours, that I'm instantly calmed and happy. I love you Izzie and I know you're scared and afraid, but you don't have to be. We're in this together. We're a team, me and you Izz."

I pause, cause at this moment, I'm not sure I can manage words. I take in a deep breath and stare at him. Tears start to well up for the third time that night, but I'm pretty sure that's ok. I give him a smile and lay my head onto his shoulder.

"You've got my heart Jeffrey Nero Hardy, so be careful with it…I love you." I whisper before leaning in to kiss him.

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"Seriously Izzie? That's sappy and nothing like you."giggled Maria Kanellis, looking at me with a grin and a set of raised eyebrows, as I finished telling my tale of last night.

"You nailed him, didn't you!" deadpanned Ashley Massaro. She looked at Candice for back up, and the brunette nodded her agreement.

"Ash!" I scolded, blushing. "Little pitchers have big ears!" I said, nodding my head to my lap where little Aurora Levesque had currently taken up residence.

"Oh don't worry about it Izz, she hears her father scream _G-o-d D-a-m-m-i-t_ _Stephanie_ at least twice a day with the occasional _S-h-i-t_ thrown in for good measure." laughed Stephanie McMahon-Levesque.

"Oh and for the record, they totally did." laughed Sam, a shit-eating grin plastered across her face."

"It's about time!" said Ashley

"Samantha!" I shrieked, mortified and bright red. I stood Aurora up on my lap so that she was covering my face.

"Ahhh no, my daughter is not protecting you from telling us all the details!" said Stephanie, as Aurora turned around and threw her little arms around me.

It's the next day, about 3 in the afternoon and the six of us plus Aurora are sitting in the cafeteria doing a whole lot of nothing. Since I've been traveling with Jeff every weekend,I've gotten to know some of the Diva's and the six of us (Me, Sam, Steph, Ash, Maria, and Candice) have struck upa bond with each other, so you can usually find us together at any point and time during the weekends. During the week we all e-mail like crazy, and I do have to admit that it's nice to have some more female friends other than just Mia and Sam.

The house show (see, I'm getting with the lingo!) doesn't start 'til 7:30. I was in the middle of telling the girls about my date from the night before when they decided that they wanted more information then I planned to tell them. I had decided on just telling Sam, who I had told after the breakfast we'd had with Randy's parents while Jeff and Randy were at a meeting at the arena. (And while we're on the subject of breakfast, I'm pretty sure that Bob and Elaine Orton are the parents I'd always dreamed of having my whole life.)

So now, all the girls are laughing so hard and I'm doing my best not to show mybright red face,that we didn't see Jeff, Randy, John, Paul Leveqsue, and Shawn Michaels walk over to us.

"What's so funny" asked Paul, as he came behind me to pluck Aurora from my lap.

"Nothing!" I said quickly, trying to pull my blackpashmina tighter around my neck and face to hide my blushing.

"Are y'all torturing my girl?" asked Jeff, as he lazily threw an arm around me.

"Izzie nailed him" babbled Aurora, giggling as she reached out to pull on Jeff's colorful hair.

"What?!?!?" said Paul loudly as my face turned from bright red to freakin' flaming and I wrapped the entire black pashmina around my head so no one could see me, with just my eyes peaking up a bit.

The girls, John, Shawn, and Randy burst out into loud laughter as Paul is looking at his little girl in disbelief. Jeff has his eyebrows raised and is giving me a humorous glance and I can tell he's trying real hard not to laugh too.

I yank the pashmina off of me long enough to shoot the girls a death glare and look up at Paul with an apologetic face.

"See what happens when I leave you with your mother and her friends?" Paul said, giving Aurora a kiss and shaking his head, a smile creeping onto his face.

"God dammit Daddy, wanna go see Grampa"said Aurora. We all looked at her in disbelief and the whole group of us burst out into laughter.

"Looks like your little parrot has sold you out." laughed Stephanie, taking Aurora from Paul.

We all laughed again and said our goodbyes. Most everyone was going to relax for a while before the show started.

As Jeff and I walked slowly towards his dressing room that he was sharing with Randy and John, he gave me a knowing look and a crooked smile.

"So I have some ideas about what we could do to kill some time," he said, giving me a suggestive glance and wiggling his eyebrows.

"Ok, first of all, stop making that face with thegoofy eyebrow thing,that's creepy. You look like my Great Uncle Norman when you do that and that's just weird. Second of all, I'm pretty sure that John, Randy, and Sam don't want to hear that, so no." I said, sticking my tongue out at him and turning around so that I was just in front of him, walking backwards with my face to his.

"Well it's not like they don't know about last night anyway," he said.

The red immediately flushed back into my face again. Oh god, is he mad? We spent such an amazing night together last night and trust me to mess it all up. I gave him a nervous look.

"Jeff, I'm sorry. I talked to Sam and...and then Maria was...but thenAshley said...and Candice...and Steph...with the baby...oh God, I sound like an idiot again, don't I?" I said, stopping in my tracks and putting my hands over my face.

Suddenly, he'sscooping my into his arms before I realize whathe's doing. He smiles at me and kisses my forehead. "Oh Izza," he said, laughing a little, and then I realize that he's just playing with me because he only calls me Izza when he's playing around. "You've got to learn not to be so damn serious all the time."

He smiles at me again and puts me down, and begins his favorite form of punishment, the Jeff Hardytickle torture. Ishriek and back myselfup...right into thewall. Ok, well that's really gonna getyou far Izz. Duh.

After several attempts at swatting him away and trying to tickle him back, I raise my hands in defeat and look up at him with big eyes (think Puss in Boots from the Shrek movies), knowing full well that it will make him stop. He laughs at me and shakes his head, slowly leaning in towards me and before you could blink an eye, we're in full blown make-out mode in the middle of the Staples Center.

"Ok, I think it's about high time that you two got a room. I think everyone in the damn arena has seen enough of this show."

For the third time that day my face flushed in embarrassment as the two of us looked over to see Vince McMahon himself standing not five feet from us, arms crossed, eyebrows raised, a half smile curled onto his face. Feeling rather like two high schoolers who just got caught kissing in the stairwell, I half expected him to start waggling his pointer finger at us and throw us into detention.

We quickly pull apart and Jeff is trying his hardest not to laugh.

"Hardy" says Vince, as he givesJeff a brief nod and walks back towards his office.

We look at each other and once we're sure he's out of earshot, we both burst into laughter and Jeff picks me up and tosses me on his back, running us both back, piggyback style to his dressing room.

This is my life...seriously. Yeah, I still can't believe it either.

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**So I guess I was wrong when I said the last chapter was the last fluffy one, but now that I've got it all planned out, I can promise you some actual drama and conflict and such in the next one!**

**Read and ****reviewwwwww****! - MK**


	8. Chapter 8

**Dare to Dream to the Extreme - Chapter 8**

A/N: Ok, so I'm jumping ahead in the time spectrum a bit, but for the sake of the story, just use your imagination. It'll be worth it, I promise!

Per the usual, the following movers and shakers are lighting up my life with their fabulous reviews!:**Inday, littleone999, Fozzy-Floozy, awprncss4386, CountryGirl07, 68 stones from a broken heart, lowritheaussie, and XtremeGirl619.**

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"Baby, you can't honestly think that what happened in there was your fault." soothed Jeff,guiding me out of my seat and into his lap. He pulled metighter into his arms and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Jeff," I whispered, a few remaining tears squeezing themselves out of my pale green eyes that were, at the moment, red and watery. My mascara was dripping down to my chin and my entire body just couldn't stop shaking. This was not the effects of the flight that we were currently on (although that most defiantly didn't help), but rather the brutal aftershock of taking Jeff home to meet my family for Easter weekend. I pulled my head off his shoulder and dropped it down, staring at the ground.

"Hey hey hey! What did I tell you? It's not your fault! What are you apologizing for?" he asked, puttinghisfinger under my chin and gently pushing itup. Imy eyes locked with his and he gave me a half smile. "Love you Izz" he said as he brushed my hair behind my ear.

"Love you too," I saidsoftly.

So yes, as you can tell, my attempt at bring Jeff home for the weekend went smashingly. We made it about 2 hours before I lost it and Jeff suggested that we leave and spend the weekend with his family.

From the moments we walked through the door Friday at 5pm, every move that the both of usmade was criticized, mostly by my mother, who was the one who had insisted that Jeff and I spend the entire weekend with them, not just Easter Sunday. My father was (total shocker here) drunk and half passed out before we even walked through the door. His only comments were an overly long rant about great my brothers were.

My mother, of course, had stolen the show, from cringing was Jeff politely introduced himself to her, to making comments about his hair, to her final comment which sent me off the edge...

_"If I wanted you to date a sideshow freak Isabelle, I would have sent you to clown college! What the hell are you doing with your life? Working two jobs and not even getting paid for one of them? How the hell do you expect to meet a good man and get married? Have someone to take care of you. You're wasting your time and your prime years! No one is going to want you in a few years, they'll just go on to a newer younger version, and then what will you have? Nothing!" my mother barked at me. _

_Jeff shifted uncomfortably on the sofa next to me, but said nothing. I could feel my face turning red and the anger was about to boil over. I knew that Jeff could tell I was about to lose it, as he slid his hand on top of mine, gently giving me it a squeeze. My mother shot him a dirty look and that was it for me._

_"Are you fucking kidding me? First of all, you have no right to be rude and make these scathing comments about Jeff! He has done nothing but be a total gentleman, even when you're making horrible comments about him when you __**don't even know him**__!!! What am I doing with my life? I'll tell you what I'm doing Mother, I'm working hard to achieve my dream, which I'm sorry that dream isn't to get married and do nothing for the rest of my life. So what if I'm working a job for free? I'm finally starting todo what I love and that is ALL that matters to me! What should I be doing, hunting down the first guy with a big bank account so I can be as happy as you and Dad, who by the way,has missed this entire conversation because he's passed out. I'm pretty sure he drinks so damn much so he won't have to deal with you!And for your information, I've already met a great amazing guy who encourages me and loves me!!!" I took in a shaky breath and looked me mother dead on in the face. The anger had faded now and all that was left was hurt. _

_"Why can't you ever be happy with what I'm doing Mom? I work damn hard and I bust my ass day in and day out, but I'm doing ok. For the first time in so long, I'm in a good place in my life. Why can't you accept that...accept me? I love sports and I love writing and...and I love Jeff! I love himso much Mom. Can't you understand?" _

_I gave her a pleading look and the tears were starting to well up in my eyes. All I got from my mother was a cold look as she got up and left the room to join my brothers who had gotten out when our show down began. _

_Jeff gently tugged on my hand. "Izzie..." he said softly_

_"Let's go," I said, willing the tears not to fall as we walked to the door, picked up our bags and left._

Needless to say, we weren't going to be spending Easter with my family. So when Jeff suggested that we drive up to Logan Airport and catch the first flight out to Greensboro to surprise his father and Matt, I wholeheartedly agreed with him. In the 3 months that Jeff and I had been dating, I felt more at home and more like family when I was with him, Matt, and Gil in Cameron than I ever did growing up at home.

We got in to Greensboro around 10:30 and were quickly whisked away in the car that Jeff had arranged to pick us up and drive us back to Cameron. We drove up to Matt's place where we saw his car along with Shannon's, Shane Helms', and a few others. We knew they'd be there since it was the holiday and Matt was still recovering from getting his appendix removed a few months back.

I knew I should have been exhausted, but after the adrenaline that was still coursing through my veins after my confrontation with my mother mixed with the two sugar free Redbulls that I'd drank on the flight down, I was ready to go. Nice move Izz, maybe you'll fall asleep somewhere around tomorrow afternoon.

"Surprise fuckfaces!" bellowed Jeff as he walked through the door. Matt, Shannon, Shane, and the others stopped and all turned to see Jeff and I walk through the doors.

"Ayyyyyyy!!!!" they all shouted and screamed as I laughed and shook my head. Such typical boys.

Jeff dropped our bags and gave his big brother a high five and a few fist pounds, then did the same with the other five guys who were hanging around.

"Hey little bro, what are you guys doing here? I thought you were spending the wee..." began Matt before Jeff cut him off with a look and a quick shake of his head. Matt nodded back and tossed our bags in the corner.

"Hey gorgeous! Have you finally decided that you're done with this ugly ass and you're going to marry me now?" asked Shannon, scooping me up into a tight hug and spinning me around. He then pulled me up and was currently holding me like the bride being carried over the threshold.

"Hey! I am NOT ugly!" protested Jeff as he grabbed two beers from the fridge.

"Sorry Shan, I'm kinda stuck on this one," I said, smiling at Jeff.

"Ok, well, NEXT!" Shannon yelled, as he took me by surprise and tossed me like a rag dollover to Matt.

Matt grinned as he caught me and enveloped me in a hug, but before I could get settled, he quickly tossed me over to Shane.

"Hah, this is fun," laughed Matt "It's like playing Hot Potato,'cept with Izz instead."

The others quickly caught onto the game and circled up, each one tossing me to the other.

"I am not a potato!" I shrieked, as Shan caught me once more, spun around real fast, then threw me to Matt again. Jeff looked on, amused, as he drank his beer.

"Matthew Moore Hardy!" I yelled as he tossed me to Shane again."I am SO telling Gil on you tomorrow, you're SO gonna get it!"

Shane laughed as he caught me, then put me down. I dizzily stumbledover to Jeff, he was standing next to the counter, an amused grin plastered across his face, trying real hard (but failing) to conceal his laughter.

"Hey baby," he laughed, pulling me close

"You guys suck!" I complained, as I grabbed onto Jeff's left arm for stability. I grabbed the other beer that sat on the counter and took a long sip.

"Awwww, it's ok little Tater, you're no worse for the wear!" said Shannon mockingly. The others laughed and his smiled widened. "Hah, I'm SO calling you Tater from now on!""

"Bite me" I said dryly

"Once you get rid of ugly ass over there, I'll do anything you want." he laughed, wiggling his eyebrows and winking at me.

"Now I know where you learn this shit from!" I said in mock exasperation, looking at Jeff and shaking my head.

"Fuck you Shannon, I'm NOT ugly!" he said, laughing. "Don't y'all remember that Izz dates me purely on mylooks alone?"

"Well at least you've finally come to grips with the fact that she's not datin' ya for your brain dipshit."shot outMatt

"Ahhh, I see where this is going." said Jeff, a cocky smirk on his face (I think I'm going to have to scale back on the amount of time he's spending with Randy. Not only is he picking up Randy's cheesy ass pick up lines and shit, but now he's taking on his mannerisms too.)

The six guys beganshooting sarcastic comments and "disses" back and forth as they set up a game of "flip cup" on the table. I could tell this was going to be a marathon event of drinking games and "man time", so I carried our bags up to Matt's spare bedroom, changed into my Boston RedSox pajama pants and a white tank top and made my way back downstairs. I scampered into the kitchen, grabbed myself a fresh beer, then walked back into the living room where I threw myself on the couch and settled in to watch a movie. I felt bad that Jeff hadn't been hanging out with his brother and his friends all that much since we'd starting dating, so I wanted to at least give him a few hours tonight to do his own thing.

A few hours later I wasfour beers deep andhad already watched "Mystic Pizza". I was well into watching some old Saturday Night Live reruns when I felt my eyes start to droop. It was 3 in the morning and I was probably crashing from the RedBull I had drank earlier (the beers probably didn't help either!) The guys had finished their Flip cup game marathon and had decided to play some poker. I shuffled into the dining room to let Jeff know I was going to sleep.

"I'm going up to bed J," I said, poking my head in the door. "Night guys."

Jeff put his cards down and scraped his chair back "Baby, I'll come with you now." he said

"No, stay here and finish the game. I'm exhausted and I want to get up and run in the morning anyways. Stay here, finish the game, and wake me up when you get to bed." I said; stand on my toes to give him a kiss.

"Thanks Baby" he whispered in my ear. "Love you"

The guys laughed and were ragging on Jeff as I walked out of the roomand theybid me goodnight. "Night Tater," called Shannon as I walked out the door.

"Night Douchebag!" I called back, flipping him off, making my way upstairs and crawling into bed.

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"Ok girls, let's pick it up! One and two and three four...attitude ladies! I know you've got it!!!" I yelled loudly to the room filled with shimmying women. "I don't care that it's Sunday morning, I wanna see you show me you've got!"

Ok, I know I sound like an over enthusiastic aerobics teacher or something, but that's not what I'm doing, I swear! Right now I'm in a large mirrored room in the Mariner Arena in Baltimore, sight of April's pay-per-view event Whiplash...I mean Backlash (I'm getting better, but no one's perfect!)

About 7 weeks ago, I decided that it would be fun to get my Zumba instructors certification. Zumba is kinda like Latin dance meets hip hop meets aerobics meets crazy cardio(gross florescent spandex and freaky leg warmers NOT included!) So needless to say, it's one hell of a workout. So anyways, I was doing my routine myself about three weeks ago on a Saturday morning; some of the girls walked in and asked me to teach it to them. It kept catching on and on and now I've got a room full of most of the Diva's in the company, plus a bunch of other ladies, including Steph and her mother, the one and only Linda McMahon. Somehow Steph talked her father into hiring me to teach the class on Saturday and Sundaymornings, so now the WWE pays for me to fly out and meet Jeff. Rough life I live, I know!

As our last song,Kat DeLuna's "Whine Up" ended, Ne-Yo's "Because of You" came on andeveryone breathed a sigh of relief; they knew that was the cool down song and class was pretty much over.

"Ok ladies, stretch it out...and give it all a little shake! If you don't I'm going to start singing again and I know that no one wants to hear that!" I laughed

The music ended and everyone disbursed to where there water bottles were waiting.

"Hey Izzie, great class!" called out Michelle McCool, as she jogged out the door.

"Dude, I am SWEATING like a damn hooker on dollar night!And my legs feel like fuc..." began Sam, before Steph cut her off with a smack and a glare,as she motion to Aurora, who had begun to dance in front of the mirrors.

Candice, Ash, Maria, and I couldn't help but laugh, as Steph, with arms crossed, tapping her foot on the ground, gave Sam another look and Sam sheepishly smiled and walked over to pick up Aurora. We had decided that lunch at Panera Bread was in order while the guys did...well whatever they do when we're not around.

I crouched down to untie my dance shoes so I could slip into my flip flops to head out and when I stood back up, I was immediately lightheaded. Hmmm...that's weird.I turned to say something to Sam and spots began to flash before my eyes. What the hell?

Sam gave me a funny look. "You ok Izzie?" she asked.

Before I could answer her, the edges of my vision began to blacken. What's going on?!?

"Sammy..." I said, reaching for her arm as my voice trailed off. I could feel myself falling and the sound of screams coming around me before I succumbed to darkness.

The next thing I knew, I was looking up to the faces of the girls, as well as Shawn.

"Sammy?" I croaked, confused. "What the hell just happened?" I asked, pushing myself into a sitting position.

"Whoa there," said Shawn, dropping to his knees as he crouched in front of me. "You should get checked out by the trainers or someone before you go moving around like that."

"Izzie, you passed out! Are you ok girlie?" said Sam nervously

"I'm fine," I said, shaking my head, pushing myself to standup.

"Izzie.." said Maria, giving me a concerned look. "Maybe you should just get checked out real quick before..."

"Ria, that's sweet of you to be worried, but I'm fine! Trust me! Listen you guys, I just had coffee for breakfast and probably just didn't drink enough water during class. I swear, I'm fine! Now let's go to lunch! I'm starving!"

The girls gave me looks like they didn't believe me, but none of them put up a fight. They were all probably just as hungry as me. I'm fine anyways! I really need to remember to drink more water before and during class.

Shawn walkedus out to the parking lot and before I jumped into Sam's rental, I grabbed his arm.

"Hey, don't mention anything to Jeff about this, please Shawn? He's got his mind on the event tomorrow night and I don't want to worry him or anything." I said, giving him a puppy dog sad face.

He raised his eyebrows and gave me a look. "Everything ok little girl? With you I mean? You're not sick or nothing are you?" he asked, concerned.

I gave him a hug and a smile, "I'm fine, but thanks for worrying about me, its sweet."

And with that, I jumped in Sam's car and belted myself in as Sam drove towards Panara. I'm fine! I mean, I just didn't drink enough water, it happens! They all worry too much

Later on that evening, Jeff and I were relaxing in his dressing room, awaiting the start of the show. Jeff was lazily lounging across the couch with his head on my lap and I was sitting, half asleep, enjoying the silence, knowing full well that in about a half hour, Jeff was going to get up and start getting prepared for his match later on that night.

I glanced down at his face and saw him smiling back up at me. He slowly sat up and pulled me right close next to him.

"How are you feeling baby? I'm thinking that you should take tomorrow off from work and maybe I'll take you to the doctors, I mean..." he began

"What are you talking about Jeff?" I asked him, knowing full well what he was referring too.

"Well Paul was talking to Shawn earlier and he mentioned that he was walking past the studio where you were teaching your class and when he came in to say hi, all he saw was you going doing like a sack of potatoes and being out for at least a few minutes before you came too! Izzie, why didn't you go and get checked out?" he asked, giving me a look.

"Jeff, I'm fine babes. Probably just a combination of no breakfast and not enough water. And I'm probably just a little tired, I've been up really late every night last week editing my article for the paper." I said soothingly

"Izz, you know I get worried about you. Maybe you might want to think about taking a breather from the paper. Just for a little while you know, to give yourself some time to relax. You're working yourself too hard." he said slowly.

My neck snapped towards him and I looked at him, a bit confused and a little shocked.

"Take a break? Jeff this is what I've been working towards for years now. I've only been there for a few months; I'm not giving up already! So I'm a little tired, big deal!" I said, with more annoyance than I wanted.

"That's not what I meant, it's just that. God Izz, I miss you so much during the week and I..." Jeff said, eyes darting around.

"You what Jeff?" I said questioningly

"I want you to travel with me! Stay with me all the time. I want you to come back to Cameron with me on my days off. I want you to move in Izz! I want to be with you all the time!" he said quickly.

I took in a deep breath and looked him dead on in the eyes. "Jeff...Jeff what about my jobs and my apartment? What about Mia and...Jeff, I have a life in Boston."

"Oh and I'm not a big enough part of your life?" he snapped, getting up from the couch.

I looked at him with pleading eyes. "Jeff, I'm sorry! That's not what I meant, it came out wrong. But...but what about BU? And writing? ESPN Magazine! What about my dream Jeff?"

"Well aren't I more important than that? I mean, I thought we were in love, this is the next step, don't you think?" he said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Red hot anger began to bubble inside of me. Is her serious? He can't be! Because the Jeff that I know and that I'm in love with would never make me choose between him and my dream. I was pissed and he was sure as hell going to know it.

"You know what Jeff, maybe I am tired, maybe I should just take a break from traveling to see you ever weekend." I said challengingly, looking right at him.

"Maybe you should then." he said, emotionless.

"But you know what I'm not taking a break on Jeff? My fucking dream. I'm going to be a writer someday, a damn great one too. And I'm not looking for your permission or anyone else's for that matter. We all can't be like you Jeff, having their dream handed to them and living it on a day to day basis; some of us have to work for it!" I seethed, furious.

"Are you fucking kidding me Izzie? You think I had all this handed to me? That I haven't busted my ass every damn daysince I was 16 years old to get where I am right now? You think this was all handed to me? You're fucking crazy!" he screamed "What I've dealt with is harder than anything you'll ever deal with, ever!"

"And I don't work my ass off Jeff? What they hell do you think I'm doing every day of my life?" I yelled, before we were interrupted by Matt and Shannon walking through the door.

"Hey Tater, hey Nero, you guys wanna..." Shannon began

"Shannon, can you just shut the fuck up and get out of here, we're in the middle of something!" yelled Jeff.

Shannon threw up his hands in defense. "Hey man, I'm sorry..."

I glared at Jeff. "Don't you fucking yell at him! He didn't do anything!"

"Oh real nice Izz, coming to his defense, what, are you fucking him behind my back or something?" growled Jeff, glaring back and forth between me and Shannon.

"Ok, we're out." said Matt and he and Shannon backed out the door.

"Have you lost your fucking mind Jeffrey? Who the hell do you think you are? I am not **fucking** your best friend, what kind of person do you think I am? And another thing, I am NOT giving up my dream to come and be your little on the road housewife! I've worked too long and too hard for this and I'm not letting go!"

"Bullshit!" he spat.

"So my dream is bullshit now Jeff? Or me denying that I'm fucking your best friend, is that what you think is bullshit" I said furiously.

"Maybe both"

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. My face crumbled and paled. I squeezed my eyes shut.

_Please God, tell me this is all a bad dream...just a nightmare, this isn't real, this isn't happening. He didn't just say that...he didn't mean that._

I opened my eyes to see him standing before me, his perfect green eyes now cold and lifeless; his face totallyunforgiving. Hot angry tearsclouded my eyes, threatening to fall at any second.

"I can't be with someone who doesn't believe in me Jeff," I said, my voice threatening to crack.

He would only look at me, right through me. He didn't speak, only crossed his arms in front of his body defiantly.

"Fuck you," I whispered hoarsely before taking off out the door.

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See, I promise and I deliver! Ohhh the drama! And it only gets better (I swear!)

**Read & Review (cause you know you want to!) - MK**


	9. Chapter 9

Dare to Dream to the Extreme – Chapter 9

A/N: So I guess I'm just on a role, two updates in one week – yaygome! Ok, so you wanted the drama, MK delivers for you!

And as always, all of you fabulous reviewers pretty much make my day, rock my socks, and anything else that you can think of that's good, y'all probably do it! High fives and thumbs up to: **XtremeGirl619, JL2009, 68 stones from a broken heart, Inday, lowritheaussie, Kate, awprncss4386, SilverSlippers, and ****Fozzy****-Floozy**

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"Izzie?"

_**"Why don't go back inside so you can warm up and you can let me get you a drink?"**_

"Izz?"

_**"Happy New Year Izzie"**_

_**"Happy New Year Jeff"**_

"Hello? Isabelle? Where are you?"

_**"I love you Izzie and I know you're scared and afraid, but you don't have to be. We're in this together. We're a team, me and you Izz."**_

"IZZIE!!"

My bedroom door flew open and Mia burst through like a bat out of hell. She walked over to my stereo, flicked the switch, and suddenlysounds of Colbie Calliat have left the room.

"OK Leyton, we need to talk," she says, hands on hips, the Sicilian side of her really starting to break through.

"It's been three and a half weeks Izzie. Three and a half weeks since you and Jeff...well, I don't even know if you cancall it breaking up since all you did was fight, but anyways, besides that, I'm really worried about you Izz." she said, sitting on the corner of my bed, where I had spent pretty much the entire past 24 days when I wasn't at work.

I sat up andlooked up at her with empty eyes, catching her look for a second before I turn my head and lay back down on my pillow.

"I'm fine," I whispered softly, gazing over at my bookcase. Framed pictures lined the shelves. Me, Jeff, Mia, Sam, Randy, and Ash at the Dropkick Murphy's concert on St. Patrick's Day Weekend. Me, Jeff, Matt, and Shan at Opening Day at Fenway Park. Jeff, Matt, and Gil on Easter. Me and Jeff on Easter. Jeff in mid-air. Me and Jeff at the beach.

"Izzie, you're not fine...this is NOT Ok Izz!" she said, exasperated. I really don't blame her. Most girls would have been a basket case after something like this. I just walked around like a zombie. When I wasn't working, I was sleeping. When I wasn't sleeping, I was working. I hadbarely eaten in almost a monthand I hadno desire to do anything for that matter.

Mia peered over at me, my blank, expressionless face unchanging. She gave a little sigh of frustration.

"Izzie, this is not normal. If this was a normal breakup for you, you'd be scowering this entirefucking apartment! Remember when you broke up with Mike? Every night for a week I found you up at 3am cleaning the moldings between the bathroom tiles with a toothbrush! There is something more to this Izz!" she yelled

Busted.

Shit.

I knew she was right. I hadn't even been wallowing in a normal way. Most girls would have either thrown away everything that reminded them of the guy who broke their heart. Either that or they would have slept with his shirt night after night, bought a bottle of his cologne to remember what he smelled like, even called him a thousand and onetimes and hung up when he answered the phone (after blocking the caller ID of course) I knew that everything that Mia said was the truth. I just didn't care. Nothing mattered to me anymore.

The funny thing was, after all that fighting about me writing and my dream, I had actually lost my job at the paper. After I came home from Baltimore, I did nothing but sleep for days, missing three big deadlines in ten days. I had single handedly screwed myself over. And I had no one to blame but myself.

"Sam called again today," said Mia hopefully "She really misses you Izzie. All your friends do."

For the past 24 days, my missed call log has looked like a who's who of the WWE. In the past three days, it's seen this:

_x Sam Orton x_

_x Ashley Massaro x_

_x Randy Orton x_

_x Sam Orton x_

_x Matt Hardy x_

_xSteph & Paul -Homex_

_x Maria Kanellis x_

_x Candice x_

_x Sam Orton x_

_x Shannon Moore x_

_x Randy Orton x_

_x Matt Hardy x_

_x Sam Orton x_

_x Steph McMahon x_

_x WWE - Stanford x_

_x Sam Orton x_

"Izzie," Mia said softly, I'm really worried about you. Really worried. This isn't like you at all. So I know you're going to get all Izz on me and be pissed off, but I made an appointment with your doctor tomorrow. You need to talk to someone. Find out whats going on. Maybe think about trying some anti-depressants or something. Cause I don't want this to get any worse than it already is. You're my best friend Izzie and I don't know what I'd do without you, so just don't fight me on this ok?"

"Sure," I said listlessly

"Oh, now I know I did the right thing." said Mia "If you're not fighting me about going to the **doctor**, which has always ranked once step abovehell with you, then I know something wrong!"

Mia kept talking, but I just tuned her out, only somewhat paying attention when she gave me a slip of paper with the time of my appointment on it, then saying that we would meet up for dinner afterwards at the Cheesecake Factory, no exceptions. I didn't even bother asking how she had gotten all my medical information, but it was Mia. She found a way to get anything done. I just nodded my head in agreement to both the appointment and dinner. All I wanted to do now was just go back to sleep.

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The next evening, I walked into the Cheesecake Factory, finding a smiling Mia sitting at a table, waiting for me. A bottle of red wine was already opened and a glass sat in front of my chair.

"Hey you! she said excitedly. "I'm so glad that you came! I was getting a little worried there, wasn't your appointment at 4:30? When I saw that it was almost 7, I was getting nervous. Did you stop off to pay homage to Fenway Park before you got on the train?"

Ishook my head no and she smiled and kept talking.

"Well," she said, picking up her glass "A toast to...to the fact that tomorrow is Friday and since I don't start summerclasses for anotherfew weeks,I am hereby claiming it to be roomie weekend and we're gonna hang out, watch movies, and otherwise be girly all weekend long! To us!" she finished with a flourish.

I looked at her numbly as she held her glass in the air.

"C'mon Izz! A toast!" she urged. I shook my head no.

She looked at me, confused for a second, but then her face brightened.

"Oh, did they put you on medication?" sheasked quietly"Well I know that it says you can't drink on those anti-depressants, but a little red wine won't hurt you."

I shook my head again.

"Izzie, c'mon, it'll be good for you! Merlot is good for the soul, you need to..."

"Mia," I said, my voice cracking and my entire body trembling. "Mia...I'm pregnant"

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I'd thought that my first missed period was just because I'd been working out so much more. The second I thought nothing of because I'd been so torn up about the breakup. As usual, I was so wrong. Dumbass.

Fourdays had passed since I had gone to the doctors, only to find out that while I may have been somewhat depressed about my breakup with Jeff, that my mood had mostly been caused by more hormones being out of whack. From being pregnant.

Exactly what I wanted to hear. Ugh

I knew I had to keep it, the baby that is. I'm the first one to give you eighty million reasons for the "pro" side of a woman's right to choose. But when it came down to that question being posed to me, I shook my head no.

To her credit, Mia hadn't left my side since that night. I'd called into Grate and Hart, telling them that I would be back next week, and she had spent all day with me on the couch. For the first time since I'd gotten home from Baltimore, I cried. Harsh, heartwracking sobs that made my eyes burn and left me with no voice.

Mia had immediately gone into mother hen mode (for the first time in her life I believe), clucking around, buying me pre-natal vitamins, getting rid of all the junk food in out pantry and stocking up on fruits and veggies. I had to laugh at her total 180.

"Have you told your family yet?" said Mia, walking out from the kitchen with two plates, handing me a sandwich and a bowl of chicken noodle soup, whish she had proudly announced to me that she had made herself.

"I called my mother this morning," I said sadly."I believe her exact words were _It's not my fault you got yourself knocked up by some rainbow haired, __steroid__ injected freak. You screwed up and you have to pay the consequence, so don't come to me looking for any sympathy. And don't coming looking for any money either, because we're not giving it to you._" I recited. "So I'm guessing that's her way of disowning me or whatever."

"I'm so sorry Izzie,"said Mia, grabbing for my hand.

"Not like I didn't expect it. I think she's been looking for a reason to cut off ties with me, this just gave her that reason." I sighed, taking a bite of the tuna sandwich. Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit me like a truck and I was off and running to the bathroom.

"No more tuna," I mumbled ten minutes later as I walked out of the bathroom. Mia laughed at me, hell, I would have too.I really was a sight.

"I thought that it just happened in the morning," I said grumpily "Who ever heard of morning sickness at 2 in the afternoon?"

Mia laughed again and I scowled. She leaned over and kissed my belly. "You let your Momma know what's up Baby! Don't let her boss you around or anything! You don't want tuna; you tell her you don't want it!" Mia fell back onto the couch in a fleet of laughter. I scowled at her.

"Not funny. I swear to God, it's like I haven't stopped throwing up since my stupid test results came back! It's only been four days! I still have seven months left of this!" I complained "Oh and Fenway."

"Fenway? You want to go to a game when you're feeling like this? Maybe next week Izz, you should really rest today."

"No Mia! Fenway!" I said with a small smile, pointing to my belly. "I don't want to keep referring to this child as **it**or **baby**."

"Izz, I know that you love the Sox and everything, but _Fenway_? That's just mean! Do you want all the kids on the playgroundto made fun of your child?"

"Mia," I laughed, shaking my head. "I am not naming my baby Fenway, just referring to my future child as so until they are born and I can give him or her an actual name."

Mia merely shook her head and smiled at me.

"Izzie," she said tentatively, a few minutes later.

"Yeah Mimi," I said affectionately, calling her by her college nickname.

"Izz, when are you going to tell Jeff about the b...about Fenway?" she asked slowly.

I looked at her and for a moment I could hearhim again _"Love you Izz". _I shook my head, as if trying to shake the words out of my memory.

"Izzie, you need to tell him"

Suddenly, the hem of my sweatshirt became of great importance to me, and I slowly began pulling the loose threads off with great concentration.

"Izzie, I know it's hard to think about, but you need to tell him this. If you love him, you'll tell him. And I know you still love him...I can see it, I can tell." Mia said softly.

Tears pooled in my light green eyes. I looked downward and caught sight of the specially madesilver charm bracelet that Jeff had gotten me for Valentines Day. "A new charm for every new memory we make." he had said to me. I slowly ran my fingers over each one; a shamrock, a starfish, the Red Sox socks, a martini glass, and my favorite, the first one that had been on the bracelet when he gave it to me. Aheart. His heart.

The tears began to fall and I looked at Mia with red rimmed eyes and nodded my head yes.

"Good, cause I already bought you a plane ticket, you should get to the arena right around the same time that the live show is over." said Mia with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Mia, You didn't have to..." I began

"I wanted to Izz, you've done so much for me, I wanted to do this for you. Well that and I need to see you two talk this out because I've gotten wicked sick of that damn One Republic CD that you've have on repeat for the past three and a half weeks."

A brief smile broke through my tears and I leaned over to her.

"Thanks Mimi" I whispered, pulling her into a tight embrace.

-------------------

I can do this... I can do this... I can...ok, no.

No I can't, Defiantly 100 can not do this.

Ugh, this sucks.

I'm standing at the back entrance outside the arena. It's ten past 11 and I know the show is over. Now I just have to work up the courage to get my ass out of the car, into the arena, and find Jeff. I know getting in will be no problem, since I still have my WWE ID. It's just finding the courage to do so.

I tugged at my wrap dress and look down at my black ballet flats. This wasn't normally my style at all, but Mia had insisted on dressing me before I left. I felt like I owed her that much since she had just spent about eight hundred dollars on my plane ticket. With a deep breath, I pushed the doors open. Here goes...

I flashed the ID badge to security, asking him where Jeff's dressing room was. I make my way down the hall, following security's directs to a T. Take a sharp left, then one, two, three, four, ok, five doors.

I can hear some rustling and movement inside and I know that if I don't go in right now, I'm not going to. I just need to go in, just do it Izzie, just right now, just...

I open the door a bit, "Jeff?" I say softly. I hear a bit more movement, so I walk inside and shut the door. Slowly I turn around and...

Wait...who the hell is that?!?

A haughty lookingbrunette stood in the middle of the room, clad in jeans so tight that I'm not sure how someone would be able to bend their legs, a tube top that left little to the imagination, and five inch stiletto heels.

"Who the hell are you? I swear to God, fucking security is horrible!" she whined "Look little girl, Jeff isn't giving out autographs, but if you agree to run along, I'll tell him that his biggest fan in the whole world said hello!" she said with cheeriness and enthusiasm that were faker than that chest of hers.

I glared at her. "I'm not a fan, and I wouldn't suggest calling me little girl again, it won't be good for your health."Pregnant or not, I willknock this dumb bitch into next Thursday if she talks to me like that again.

"No need to be violent sweetie'" she said with fake sweetness dripping for her every word.

"OK, _sweetie_," I said, my voice low and quiet.

"Who are you anyways?" she asked in a bored voice. Suddenly her eyes narrowed and she walked up close to me, looking me up and down.

"Wait a minute, I know who you are!" she said, her nasally voice cutting through me like a knife on butter. "You're that girl he played around with for a while!" she said, giving me an obnoxious giggle and tapping me on the nose with her perfectly manicured claw.

Oh yeah, do that again bitch and see how well it works out for you. My defenses were up and I had no problem letting loose on this girl. I'm pretty sure I can still check her ass into a wall like I did with numerous girls in indoor lacrosse in high school. C'mon, try me.

"Who the hell are you," I said

"I'm Beth, Jeff's fiancée," she said, fluffing her dark brown hair and gazing at her flawless nails.

I was about to snort with laughter when she flashed her right hand at me and a massive sparkling diamond started back at me.

Oh. My. God

I don't think I can breathe right now.

Beth? Beth _'I'm going to spend your money whenever I can and cheat on you every second that you're not looking all while pressuring you into marrying me'_ Beth? This is not happening right now.

"So I hate to tell you, but your time with him has passed. You were just a little fun on the side until we he worked out all his issues." she glanced at me again "Jeff always did like to go slumming every once in a while."

I wanted to punch this bitch in the face. I wanted to take her down. I wanted to make her regret every word she just said to me.

Unfortunately, every once of strength I had was, at the moment, being used to keep myself from breaking down.

I had to get the hell out of here. There's no way I'm telling Jeff now.At this point, I'm pretty sure that even if I did tell him,he would want no part inmy child's life anyway, since apparently it's only taken him three and a half weeks to start a new life without me.

I was not going to break down in front of this bitch. I still wanted to keep a shred of my dignity in tact. I just had to get out of here...now.

I spun around, went quickly out the door and ran down the hallway...and into what felt like a brick wall. I rubbed my face and looked upwards.

Fuck.

Randy Orton.

I really need to think things ahead better. I knew coming down here that I would see Jeff, but that was tough enough as it is. I had totally forgotten about the chance of seeing other people than I knew too. And in no way was I prepared to tell anyone about this baby, since I hadn't even been able to tell Jeff. All I wanted to do was get the fuck out of here, forgetting the existence of Jeffrey Nero Hardy and anyone who ever knew him. Unfortunately, Randy didn't give me that option

"Izzie!" he said, more than a bit shocked and surprised. "Izzie what are you doing here? What happened? Why won't you take our calls? We were so worried about you! Jeff won't talk about it to any of us; did you guys have a fight? What's going on?" he said quickly.

My eyes opened wide in shock and fear. But before I had a chance to even think about what I was going to say to him, I clapped my hand over my mouth. Oh shit...oh shit shit shit...nausea. My eyes anxiously darted around, looking furiously for a bathroom. Where is it? Where is it? Why the fuck am I am in the only damn hallway in America with no fucking bathroom?!?!?!

With no bathroom option open to me, I did the only thing I could do. Ran over to the nearest trash barrel and heaved the contents of my stomach into it.

"Have a little too much liquid courage on the plane?" smirked Randy.

I knew he couldn't say nice too long. Asshole.

"No," I scowled angrily at him, pulling a tissue from my pocket to wipe my mouth.

"Well why don't we go out and get a cup of coffee or something, you and I need to talk and you need to fill me in on what the hell is going on with you two." he said.

"I can't, caffeine's not good for the baby." I mumbled

Shit.

Seriously, a heads up for you. You should never tell me your secrets. Ever. Cause apparently I can't even fucking keep my own.

Randy's smirk left his face and one of total shock took over. His gaping mouth could probably be catching flies right about now.

OK, now it's time to make my exit. I quickly spun around and took off, running towards the exit. I heard footsteps run after me, but I had a nice little lead on him. I may be knocked up and have a bum knee, but when the need arises, I can still run like I used to.

By the graces of….I don't even know what, I managed to find and jump in a cab and be on my way before Randy got out the front door.

I was able to catch the red eye back to Boston, getting in around 6 am. I called Grate and Hart to tell them that I would be back in tomorrow.

Since I hadn't slept a second on the plane, the instant I hit my bed, I was out like a light. A few hours later, I groggily awoke to the incessant ringing of my doorbell. Seriously? I'm tired, I'm grumpy, and I just found out that my baby's father is engaged to some pompous bitch who's only concern in life is how many hours a day she can go shopping.

I stomped down the stairs and ripped open the door.

And for the second time in twelve hours, I found myself staring into the blue eyes of Randy Orton.

"We need to talk"

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**Read and Review!!!!! - MK**


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